Work For It
by MissBootjah
Summary: Klaus is CEO of Mikaelson Global, his sister insists he needs a new assistant after his last one quit. Kol bets him that he can't seduce all the girls that are interested in the position. Caroline is new in NY, living with Katherine and desperately in need of a job. What would happen if their paths cross? Can they save each other or will they be each others damnation. (All Human)
1. Chapter 1

**So this is a new thing I came up with, first time writing Vampire Diaries so I hope I do the characters justice.  
I just finished my NANOWRIMO and I just wanted to continue writing, since the onyl Klaroline fix I can get is from fanfictions, I wanted to contribute.**

**It's all human.**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Klaus Mikaelson was bend over his desk, searching through a stack of papers to find the information about his meeting with one of the executives from of a new business that he wanted to work with. He couldn't seem to find it and let out a frustrated growl. How hard could it be for his staff to keep everything organized?

He needed to get this deal. After the decease of his father a few months earlier he got control over the old company. His father had left the company to his brother Elijah, but Elijah had refused. Stating that he liked the financial aspects of the company better and he wanted to keep his role as CFO. When Elijah had refused there had been the discussion about who would run the venture and somehow his siblings had found him most suitable.

It was possible they were on to something. He had one of the top-guys in the company, bringing in the largest deal but he never got the credit for those. Still, now with Mikael gone, he wanted to prove that he could handle keeping the company running. It had been hard work but he could handle it and he refused to let it all go to waste just because he couldn't find a stupid piece of paper!

He quickly pressed on the intercom, "Laura where is the information about Mr. Salvatore's previous partnerships? I need to read up about their patterns and what they seek."

It stayed quiet on the other side and he used the intercom again, repeating his former words a bit louder this time. When he finished talking the door opened and he expected to see his Executive Assistant standing there with his required information. He was quite disappointed to note that the blonde standing there wasn't Laura but his little sister.

"Laura quit yesterday Nik, remember?" Rebekah told him while she walked into his office taking place on one of the chairs.

Klaus looked confused at that... quit? He racked his brain about the answer and then remembered. "Oh yeah, she did. Well good riddance, she didn't fulfill half the tasks that I gave her."

"That's because you asked her to get your clothes from the dry cleaners and way to many personal tasks. That's not part of her job, she came here to be an Executive Assistant, not your errand girl!" Rebekah exclaimed. "You can't treat people like that, that wasn't what she was hired to do Nik."

"Well I never hired her, now did I? She was left over from Mikael," Klaus said while he opened his drawers going through them in search of the papers. When he opened the last one he found a folder, opening it it revealed the information he sought.

"Thank god, look sister you know I enjoy your company but I'm busy. Berate me some other time. I'm sure you can find the time." With that he walked past her and left his office, leaving Rebekah pissed in his wake. She would probably make him regret that later but for now he truly didn't care. He had a meeting to prepare for and he couldn't say he would miss Laura.

She had been a plain girl with brown hair and eyes, slim but lacked curves, she wasn't very pretty but working as close as they had been, staying late at night at the office, she had been good company. She had been a good fuck the first time but he hadn't felt like using her again and he had known that she was looking for something more permanent. It was better that she had removed herself from his company instead of the opposite. He would have trouble trying to fire her himself, she had been with the company too long but just like Mikael's, her time has passed as well.

He took the elevator to the next floor using one of the empty meeting rooms to read up about the two brothers that had started there little business about two years ago. It had grown quite a bit since then and Klaus wanted to get a part of the company before it got big. He saw the potential and he suspected that for now, he was one of the only ones that kept their eye on the Salvatores.

* * *

"Katherine!" Caroline yelled out with her curling iron in hand, "What the hell have you done with it? It doesn't work and I know you were the last one to use it!"

Katherine Pierce walked into Caroline's room and let herself fall down on the bed. "Oh yeah I meant to tell you about that. I used it yesterday to fix my hair and suddenly all sorts of smoke came out of it. Whoops," she said and shrugged at her friend, "That thing was ancient anyway, you really need to buy a new one."

"Or you could have bought one of your own you know. Ugh I can't replace this," she huffed and sat next to Katherine.

"Hey I'm letting you stay at my place rent free, the least you could do is let me use your appliance once in a while," Katherine pointed out and Caroline felt guilty for being upset with her friend in the first place.

"I know, and you're right. I'm grateful that I can stay here and you know that. And I would pay you if I could, I just need to find a job first..." she grew sad thinking about the reason why she was in the first place but erased the thought. That was her old life not her new.

"Well you're a better cook than I am and you clean a lot. Who wouldn't want you as a roommate?" Katherine joked and when she noticed Caroline's sad face she added, "Except for idiots."

Idiots like her ex-boyfriend Tyler. She had been his mother's -her hometown's mayor- assistant since the moment she had graduated and he had been a longtime friend. They had been dating for two years but last month he had suddenly broken up with her, telling her that she had to move right away and a day later his mother had called that she found it uncomfortable to have an ex of her son working with her.

She had left Mystic Falls that same day, calling Katherine who lived in New York and asked if she could crash. Katherine had understood and had a guest room that could use. She had been there ever since, looking for a job and an opportunity to settle in the big city herself but for now she hadn't been able to see much of it. All the jobs she had applied to had already been filled or she was told that she had too little experience. Assistant of a mayor might seem like a big deal in Mystic Falls, but in New York the small town meant nothing.

"Okay you know what?" Katherine said, "Tomorrow I'm free, we're going to spend all day looking for jobs and I'm going to help you upgrade your CV, letter and wardrobe are New York job approved."

"What's wrong with any of those things?" Caroline demanded to know. She knew that she could be very persuasive so all she needed was an interview and she was settles. At least that was what she hoped for.

"Caroline it's all Mystic Falls great, but we want you to be New York great. Your dresses are sweet but we need you to look like a business vixen. And yeah people will realize that you're great for the job when they meet you but for now you haven't been invited anywhere yet. You can use the upgrade and I would love to help."

Caroline couldn't argue with that, Katherine had been living in New York for five years know, she moved right after graduation and the city had agreed with her. "I'll take all the help I can get," she agreed. If it would get her a job, how bad could it be.

"Good, now move your ass, your lying on my arm," Katherine said and pushed Caroline from the bed. She fell down on the floor startled but couldn't help and laugh.

"You're lucky you're my best friend!" Caroline said between giggles.

"No sweet Caroline, you're lucky I'm your best friend," Katherine pointed out and lost herself in laughter as well. Caroline couldn't disagree with Katherine though, she wouldn't know what she would have done if it hadn't been for her.

* * *

After preparing for his meeting with the Salvators that following day Klaus and Rebekah had been dragged to the bar by their younger brother Kol. "Another!" Kol yelled at the bartender after they all downed their shot and Klaus looked at his brother's antics with amusements.

"Why are you trying to get your siblings wasted Kol?" Rebekah asked him while she accepted the fourth shot that night. "What are you planning?"

"Nothing!" Kol insisted, "Can't a guy want to share some drinks with his dear siblings when- Oh look there's Lijah!" Kol pushed Rebekah aside, grabbing her shot and walked across the bar towards his brother and ended up dragging Elijah with him back to their group. Kol handed him Rebekah's glass and ignored Rebekah's annoyed glare.

Elijah refused the glass and ordered a scotch, with Elijah present they sat down at a table. "So Rebekah told me that Laura quit." Elijah said.

Klaus shot daggers at Rebekah, of course she would have told his brother right away. "She did," he said, not sure what Elijah was after, Elijah had always been the responsible one so he was almost sure that he was going to be getting a lecture one way or another.

"Laura is gone?" Kol perked up at that, "Does that mean you can get a new girl? A hotter one this time?" Klaus ignored his younger brother and turned towards Elijah, waiting for his point.

"When are you looking for replacements?" Elijah asked of him and Klaus rolled his eyes at him.

"Who says I need a replacement? Laura wasn't of much use to me so I doubt anyone else would be." No one in the company had in any way piqued his interest so he knew it was pointless to find someone there that would have to work with him closely. Besides he worked best alone.

"It wouldn't matter anyway Lijah, Klaus uses his assistant as his personal lapdog. Making her do choirs that aren't part of her job. Anyone would quit in a day." Rebekah chimed in and looked at him disapprovingly.

"Well if they're hot you could at least shag them," Kol added, "Or you could redirect them to your favorite brother."

"I already did that with Laura and she wasn't that hot," Klaus told Kol.

Kol choked on his drink, "You shagged Laura! No wonder she quit," he laughed at his brother and Klaus ignored Elijah's and Rebekah's accusing stares.

"What she knew what she was getting into," he said defending himself.

Rebekah shook her head. "Sometimes I don't know what you're thinking," she told him and left with Elijah to order another drink.

"You know," Kol said, "You could always take on a personal assistant. She would have to take calls and plan your meetings and stuff but they don't just work for business stuff. They can organize your private life as well."

"Why would I want that?" Klaus asked, wondering how much Kol already had to drink.

"Well you won't have the problem with giving her personal tasks and they're new to the business. Younger, innocent, think of the hot chicks that would want the job. They would do anything to get a chance to work for you." Kol was almost drooling at the perverse fantasy in his head and Klaus smacked him.

"I can't waste my time interviewing some girls just because they're easily fuckable."

"Well now that I know about Laura, I'm pretty sure you've had all the woman at the office. So you probably need the fresh meat. Besides I've never said they would be easy, why you're not up for the challenge? See if you can fuck them all?" Kol was trying to persuade him, he knew it and even though the idea seemed tempting he didn't have the time for it.

"Ugh you're no fun!" Kol stated before he left to join Elijah and Rebekah at the bar and Klaus considered joining them, but they seemed to have plenty of fun without him there. He couldn't concentrate on something as petty as using his position to screw some girls. Firstly he didn't need to sink so low to score and secondly he was busy with running a company. He needed to stay focused. He got pulled from his thoughts when a gorgeous redhead placed herself in his lap.

"My friends dared me that I couldn't get you to screw me in the bathroom. Care to prove them wrong?" she lifted an eyebrow at him and pointed at a group of giggling woman that were siting a few tables over. They weren't even hiding that they were paying close attention to the pair and Klaus couldn't care less. The redhead was trailing kisses on his neck and he couldn't come up with a reason to decline the offer. If she wanted him to fuck her, why would he deny her the privilege.

He stood up and grabbed her hand leading them to the bathrooms, when they passed her friends' table he could hear the catcalls and he tried his best to ignore them. When they entered the bathroom he instantly pressed her against the closed door and pressed their lips together. Her mouth opened right away, their tongues meeting and she was already busy with removing his belt. Wasting no time whatsoever.

He could feel her hand graze her crotch but he was nowhere near turned on for that just yet. A kiss wouldn't do, so he moved his hands under her dress, grabbing her ass and lifting her up. She immediately wrapped her legs around his waist and he removed his mouth from hers. He trailed kissed down her jaw and neck and pulled the neckline of her dress lower, placing kisses over her breasts. He could hear her moaning and he pulled back a bit. He looked at the redhead that had her eyes closer and mouth wide open, she was clearly enjoying herself while he had barely touched her and he suddenly realized that this was too easy.

There was no fun in this, no challenge and he wanted that, he needed that. He liked working for what he wanted and it was much more satisfying when he got that. Like with Laura, she had never been appealing to him but he had known that she wouldn't sleep with him. Kol had been right, she had been the last woman in the company that he hadn't had and that made him want her. But when they fucked her he was over it as well.

But now with this girl, trying to put her hands in his jeans, he could let her finish him but why would he? He pulled back and put the girl back on the ground. "I've got to go," he pushed her away and left the bathroom but not before he noticed the shocked look on the girl's face. Apparently hadn't thought that she would be rejected and why would she? Any guy would want her but that wasn't enough reason for him.

He walked over to Kol who raised an eyebrow at his appearance. "You're belt's loose," he just said and Klaus quickly fastened it, ignoring his brother's stare. In the background her could hear the girl returning to her friends table but he paid them no attention.

He leaned closer to his brother. "I'm in," he told him and Kol smiled at him.

"I knew you would! I already told Elijah to print an add tomorrow. I offered to choose which one can come over for an interview. He will make sure they have all the requirements first and then I'll just pick the hottest for you. Don't say I don't do anything for my brother."

He rolled his eyes at that, "What's in it for you though?" he wondered. Kol rarely did anything without ulterior motives.

"Nothing," Kol smirked, "I just want to see my brother fail."

"You don't think I can do this?" Klaus asked feeling offended, didn't his brother know him better than that. He could get whoever he wanted, whenever he wanted.

"Oh I know you can't. I mean sure there will be some that give in, but I don't think all of them will." Kol smirk grew at the thought. His brother was too cocky for his own good, it would be good to see him have to work for a girl for a change.

"I can easily do it." he stated confidently. He never had to work for it, so why would now be any dangerous. He grabbed another shot of the bar and downed it.

"Prove it."

"Oh I will!" This wasn't about getting an assistant, he wasn't going to let Kol doubt his abilities like that. He could get whoever he wanted and a few girls looking for a job wouldn't be a problem.

* * *

**So there was a part of the next chapters that played through my head today and I just decided to write it down. If there are any mistakes I do apologize! **

**Please let me now if you want me to continue or if you have anything to share.**

**I've edited it a small bit but nothing about the story has changed.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow thank you for everyone that read, followed, favorited or reviewed this story! I kinda had some negative reviews for this story at first but later I got some amazing reviews and new readers so thank you for that. I'm definitly continuing this story and I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

"Care, Ca-are, Car-o-line," she heard some say in a singsonging voice. She grabbed the pillow next to her and moved it over her head hoping that it would shut out the singing.

"Don't!" she moaned, "Let me sleep, please." She peeked open her eyes and not to her surprise found Katherine leaning over her.

"Sorry, no can do. I promised you my help so my help you get. We're not getting anything done if you're just lying in your bed all day. Have some coffee," Katherine put a cup on Caroline's nightstand and sat down next to the girl's head. "And get ready. Because we're going to make sure that everyone will want to hire you!"

Caroline moved her hand around, feeling around her bed for her cellphone, when she found it she checked the time. "Kat! It's early, let a girl sleep!"

Katherine grabbed the phone out of her hands and handed her the phone. "Nope, we've got a lot to do, I have it all planned out and we need the time. Besides you should like this, you love organizing and planning stuff."

"Yeah I like planning stuff for other people, not having to follow other people's plans," she muttered while she sipped of her coffee. "Thank you though," she added, "For going through all this trouble."

"Please we both know that if one of us is trouble it's not you. I mean sure I don't want to get on your bad side but compared to me you're tame sweetie."

"Ugh, whatever, just let me get a shower and then I'll be ready," Caroline left the warmth of her bed and quickly grabbed a pair of jeans with a creme colored lace top.

30 minutes later she was done and sitting in the kitchen drinking her second cup of coffee. She was finally starting to feel awake and she looked at Katherine who was busy behind a laptop.

"Okay so this is your resume," Katherine turned the laptop towards her so Caroline could see it as well. "And it's all perfectly fine but very tame, I mean prom committee, Miss Mystic Falls, Assistant of the mayor... It's all very small town." Katherine told her.

"Well I am from a small town, and those are all things that I've done in the past. There's nothing to change about that," Caroline said. She knew she had been stuck in Mystic Falls for quite some time but she knew she was more than a small town girl, she just needed a shot to get out there. And now it seemed that here in NY no one was giving her one because of it.

"Okay fine I can't change anything about what you've done, it's actually really organized and complete. I mean we could always add some skills that you could possess..." Katherine offered and stopped when Caroline shot her a glare.

"We're not going to make up things on my resume, if they don't want me for who I am they're clearly not right for me," Caroline told her sternly.

Katherine made a face at her, "Care, we're looking for a job, not a boyfriend."

"I know that! I just don't want to have to lie about who I am just to get a job. Not even on my resume."

"Everyone lies on resumes, it's what they're for!" Katherine did her best to convince her but she kept her ground. She didn't feel good lying, too many were told in her past already.

"Okay fine!" Katherine said slumming down on the couch, "I won't change your resume, it's pretty good anyway. I mean you even have a Mayor as your reference. Than how about your letter, can I see it?"

Caroline grabbed the laptop and searched for the documents, she opened it and showed it to Katherine. Katherine took a moment to read it and then leaned back, looking conflicted. "That's, a really good letter. I don't understand why you haven't been asked for a single interview. I mean sure you're still unexperienced in this city... but none? It's not like you're asking for high jobs, you have the skills and experience that you would need."

"So it's not too small town?" Caroline asked, thinking about what Katherine said.

"Nope, it's a bit neat, precise, but that's what you would need with these businesses. You've mentioned all your qualification and what you could do for them... Hell I would hire you!" Katherine joked and Caroline smacked her arm away.

"So what you're saying is that I woke up this early just to discover that it's not all that bad. Well that's great but I'm still unemployed," Caroline told her and leaned back against the couch. If Katherine didn't know anything that she was clueless as well.

"We can still look if their new openings at some of local firms. Look just let me make a list and then we send them all your resume. See where it goes from there."

Caroline sighed, because she hadn't tried that every day for the last month. "Yeah sure, let's hope there are some new ones today."

Katherine was quickly typing and clicking behind the computer and had manifested a whole list of companies in no time. She was clearly invested in helping her, which Caroline really appreciated. "Okay take a look. I noted the companies with their functions that you would be suited for. Which ones have you already applied for?"

Caroline looked at the remarkable long list but was disappointed to note that over three quarter of them were companies that she had already applied for. She remained with a small list of five companies. They all sought an administrative assistant, well all of them except one. She would have been fine with being an administrative assistant if she had no other option, but she wanted more from her job than the paperwork. She wanted to get involved, organize stuff, solve problems, anything that got her moving around. The last one on the list was a personal assistant position at Mikaelson Global. She didn't know the company but she could easily do some research, the Internet made it that much easier.

She knew that being a personal assistant was hard work, it went beyond regular hours but it had common ground with her old job. Even though she had just been Ms. Lockwood's assistant she had organized most events, set up all meetings and took care of any of her business whether they were private or not. If she had a change getting that job she had to take it, just to be sure though she would apply for all of them. She had to play it safe.

"Okay, we'll just Google the companies to add some personal information in your application," Katherine instructed Caroline.

Caroline rolled her eyes at the girl's orders. "I know how to write a letter Kat, it's not the first one I made," Katherine wanted to interject but Caroline's glare stopped her, "No don't you dare tell me that it's too "small town". You were from a small town and you made it here without any problems."

"Well I always was too big for Mystic Falls!" Katherine said smiling but grew serious when she caught Caroline's glare, "You know why I had to get out of that town and New York did agree with me. Besides it's easier to start as a bartender than in business. Plenty of bars are looking for a hot girl that works hard. I didn't need a lot of references, just my good looks and sparkling personality," Katherine winked at her friend and continue searching the web.

Caroline snorted, "Yeah, you're such a sweet and gentle person."

"Oh please, like you are. You put on a good front in Mystic Falls but I know that beneath that little sweet innocent Caroline is a smoking hot vixen waiting to be let out. I've seen her plenty enough whenever you let loose, before Tyler came and tried to mold you into a little housewife."

"Okay that wasn't a front, I like people and they happen to like me. Besides try to let loose when your mother is the Sheriff, everything gets back to her. And Tyler never did anything of the sorts to me, I wouldn't change myself for anyone."

"I know Care, that's what I like about you. I mean you're sweet but you can be a nasty bossy bitch when you want to be," Katherine said with a smile on her face deciding to ignore the subject of Tyler, she knew it was still a sensitive point.

"Hey Elena deserved it, she stole my dress for prom. The same prom that I had organized! Your stupid sister almost ruined my whole night," Caroline said, her eyes burning with fire when she thought back to that stunt.

"I never said she didn't deserve it, she was just a nuisance at home after that. Kept complaining about you, I'm just grateful I could leave two months after."

"Okay enough reminiscing about our past, let's focus on our future. I have a software company here, they've got quite some interesting new ideas, I could incorporate those in my letter?" Caroline suggested.

Katherine nodded and watched Caroline hands fly over the keyboard, she was such a fast typer and had edited the letter within minutes. They continued like that for the next hour or so until both Katherine and Caroline were satisfied with the result.

"See that being a bartender pays off, way to many half drunk business people telling their stories about missed deals and past interviews. I keep my ear open now and then. Guess it comes in handy. Now let's find you a killer outfit for when you get invited." Katherine told her while she dragged her from the sofa.

"I've seen your outfits and they're cute but very stiff, add some colors! We want something that shows that you're in control and can take anything that they throw at you."

Caroline raised an eyebrow at that, "You know I never back down from a challenge Kat, I'm pretty sure I can show people that better than by some dress I'm wearing."

Katherine threw her hands up, "Fine, don't accept my help, see if I care. I just wanted to give you a gift but if you don't want it I'm sure I can exchange it," with that she revealed a box that had been hidden behind Caroline's door.

Caroline jumped at her, trying to get the box but Katherine manage to move out of her way just at time. "So I take it that you do want a present?" Katherine asked and Caroline wanted to wipe that smirk of her face.

"Just show me what's in the box Kat," Caroline kept her eyes locked on the box while Katherine walked towards Caroline's bed to sit down. Katherine patted the place next to her, "Sit down and you'll find out."

She sighed, why couldn't Katherine just tell her what was in the box? But she had to admit that she was curious, she hated not knowing something and if she would walk away know it was going to bug her all week. "Fiiiiine," she said and begrudgingly say down next to Katherine. She made another move for the box but Katherine managed to pull it away just in time.

"Oh no, I'm not going to make it this easy," Katherine told her with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes, "If you're accepting this gift their are rules attached."

Caroline let her head drop in her hands, "Oh come on!" she exclaimed, "You can't be serious!"

"Oh I'm very serious, so do you accept?" Katherine held out her hand for Caroline to grasp but the girl hesitated for a moment.

"Aren't you going to tell me the terms first?" she asked but Katherine shook her head.

"Why would I do that? This is part of the fun, or do you think you can't handle it?" Katherine asked challenging her.

Caroline huffed, "I can handle it, besides what's the worst you can do?" She paused after that thought, honestly Katherine could probably make up the most awful thing but she knew she wouldn't, her friend loved her too much to actually torture her. It was just some harmless fun. She grabbed Katherine's hand in hers and the deal was struck.

"Okay first rule: You have to wear this dress at your first interview." Katherine told her while she handed Caroline the box.

Caroline's looked at the box, already cursing the bloody dress. She hoped that whatever Katherine had picked would be suitable enough for an interview but she wasn't going to back down. She shrugged in response and lifted the lid of the box, inside lay a burgundy colored dress and Caroline quickly lifted it in the air.

It was actually a really, really nice dress. It had a boat neckline with a pencil skirt, it was very decent in a nice color like Katherine had said. When she held it in front of her she noticed her only criticism. "Katherine, it's too short!" The dress reached mid thigh and she worried that it wouldn't be found appropriate at most offices. Sure with Mayor Lockwood she could come to work in summer dresses and anything she would like, but Katherine was right, this wasn't Mystic Falls.

"It's perfect. One of my regulars was wearing it last week, she's a lawyer at a good firm and I knew it would look so much better on you. So I asked where she got it and here we are. Don't deny that you don't think you would look awesome in it."

She took another look at the dress and she knew Katherine was right. She really did love the dress and she was Katherine grateful for it. If it would made her happy she could wear it for her first interview. "Thank you! I love it," she told Katherine and moved in for a hug.

Katherine held her for a moment and pushed her back. "Great, now for the other rules..."

Caroline growled and let herself fall down on the bed. "She should have known there would be more."

* * *

When Klaus woke up he looked at his surroundings for a moment confused why his whole room was bathing in sunlight. He looked at his alarm and realized that he woke up way to late. "Fuck!" he shouted while he shot out of the bed. He had the Salvatore meeting in less than an hour and he overslept. To top that off it seemed like he was nursing a hangover. After he left the redhead he and Kol had been downing drinks until the bar closed down. He remembered talking with Kol about something but he couldn't remember what.

Oh well, if it was important his brother would surely remember him about it, that or he would have forgotten as well. He remembered how Elijah had been engrossed in a conversation with some brown haired bartender for half of the night, completely ignoring his sister and he knew Rebekah would come complain about that later today. Joy.

Well he first had to drag in this deal and handle his family later. He quickly took a shower and got dressed. He had no time to loose today, he wanted to prove that he could control the company as well as Mikael had. No better way to prove it than score the Salvatore brothers, their new software program had the possibility to become massive and he wanted to be a part of that.

But for that he had to be on time. He grabbed his car-keys and ran out of the door, quickly jumping in his car, after three blocks he was stuck in traffic. He smacked his steering wheel, of course he would get stuck into traffic. Wasn't it always like that. Ugh he didn't have any time for this! If he would ruin this damn deal because of some stupid traffic jam he was going to murder someone. He leaned back into his seat, cursing his day and rubbing the side of his head.

His head was killing him, well if he couldn't drive now anyway the least he could do was see if he had any painkillers in his car. He searched through the car, finally founding it in the glove compartment next to a pair of sunglasses that he didn't own. He should have thrown those out already he told himself, but instead Klaus grabbed the aspirin and closed the compartment. He could always do that later he thought to himself.

He grabbed his bottle of water and took the medicine, just as he swallowed the pill the traffic seemed to move again. There could be hope for today yet.

* * *

**So I hope you enjoyed this chapter, next chapter will be mainly Klaus with the first appearance of a Salvatore brother. Which one do you want to meet with Klaus first? Please let me know, I would like to hear your thoughts.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry this chapter is a bit shorter, it's the only way I could get it and update today. I will have the next chapter in a few more days. As for everyone that reviewed and/or followed this story "Thank you so much!" I love seeing new readers and your reviews make my day. I'm glad that you guys seem to like the interaction between Katherine and Caroline and more of that later in this chapter. As for the Salvatore brother that will meet Klaus first... I was dabbling between both of them but only one reviewer gave me her preference. Well NikMik, you've been right :)**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

When he arrived in his office he begrudgingly noticed that he was ten minutes late. Of on a great start already. He looked around for Mr. Salvatore but he didn't seem to be waiting for him. He hoped that he had been running late as well, the alternative would have been that he had already left and Klaus didn't want to think about that probability.

Normally he would have asked Laura to keep Mr. Salvatore busy or have her show him around until he arrived but without anyone here he didn't have the back up. Unfortunately it seemed like Mr. Salvatore didn't have the patient to wait for him.

He grabbed his phone, determined to call Mr. Salvatore and convince him to return when he saw a text from Rebekah. It seemed like the girl had taken it on herself to fill in for Laura for the day and had intercepted the man. They were currently waiting on him on the third floor. He cursed his little sister for meddling in his business but he was grateful that she kept Mr. Salvatore close by. He just feared for the explanation that she could have given the man.

He hurried himself to the third floor almost running into the two people that were waiting in front of the elevator for him. "Sorry," he excused himself to the dark haired man. "Traffic in New York can be quite the burden. I'm Klaus Mikaelson, you must be-" Klaus extended his hand to his sister's companion before he was interrupted by the man himself.

"Damon Salvatore," he said with a smirk, "And don't worry about it. Your lovely sister kept me entertained the whole time that I had to wait. She showed me around. The building is almost as beautiful as her."

Klaus could see his sister redden under the man's stare and he could really do without seeing the man flirt with his sister. "Well if you follow me, we can just go back to my office and discuss the contract. Bekah if you could bring Mr. Salvatore and I a cup of coffee."

Rebekah threw her brother a glare but followed them back to Klaus's office, moving towards the coffeemaker while Damon and Klaus entered the room.

"So Mr. Salvatore, I'm entirely sorry for the wait but I do hope we can come to a deal without any further problems," Klaus told the man. It was hurting him to sound so humble but he screwed up with being late today already and he couldn't afford to loose anymore ground.

"Cut the crap Mikaelson," Damon told him and Klaus looked up in surprise. "I don't care why you were unable to meet up with me at the appointed time but if I have to drag myself out of my bed this early to be here on time, the least you could do is grant me the same."

"I already explained that there was a traffic jam, it's not like I decided to show up an hour later or something I just ran ten minutes late because of it. Could have happened to you as well," Klaus told the man. He was taken aback by the change in attitude the second his sister had disappeared.

"But it didn't. I was here on time and I don't like to be kept waiting. Luckily your dear sister took it on herself to keep me busy until I was here or you would have blown any change to seal this deal. Now should we move on to the terms of our agreement?" Damon grabbed the contract out of his briefcase and retrieved his folder. "Now I know that we settled on two million dollars but I know that you know we're worth way more than that. So unless you reconsider your offer this whole morning has already been a bigger waste of my time as it already is."

Klaus was stunned, he hadn't expected the deal to go this awry. They had settled all the terms over the phone priorly to this meeting and they would only add some small points from both parties. He hadn't expected for the man to change the biggest part of the contract.

"I believe we've already settled on that amount and I would say it's more than reasonable. Your company is still unknown and you can use it to grow, of course Mikaelson Global will get a thirty percent part of your profits but how do you expect to get any income without an investor Mr. Salvatore?" He bend forward calling the man's bluff. There was no way he would risk losing his investment, Klaus was aware that without it they would have many troubles developing the product.

"As I've told you guys priorly, I'm interested in your software, I think it has a lot of potential but don't mistake that interest in weakness. I've raised my offer already but I'm not going to again. That deal has been made," he sternly said, he didn't want there to be any mistake. The Salvatore's where a risk he was willing to make but he wasn't going to let them cost him anymore in case he was wrong. "If there were any other points you wanted to address than be my guest, if you disagree, well you know where the door is."

Damon let out a loud laugh and Klaus looked at him bewildered. "You know Mikaelson, when my brother tried to talk me into this deal I was positive that he turned mad! But I think I'm going to like this partnership. You've got balls! Now as for our office, I know that you offered us a place in your company but we still need to keep our individuality, we want to make it as our own as well and we won't be able to do so if everyone associates us with you."

Klaus couldn't find a reason to disagree with that, he would get his profits anyway. He would just have to find them a location nearby quickly. He could grow to respect this man, despite his rude personality he clearly knew what he wanted and went after it. It was something that Klaus had always admired and tried to do so himself. It's how he got the company he guessed.

"That can definitely be arranged. We just have to have someone sort through the locations first and then I'll get them back to you. It might take a few days though, I'm kinda out of an assistant at the moment," Klaus confessed to Damon, "I should have it solved in a few days. Now where there any other points?"

The whole meeting ended up with the two man comparing their notes, what they wanted to adjust and for the most parts they seemed to agree. They butted heads again when Damon insisted on a new research facility, Klaus insisted that his would do. At the end they managed to solve their problems.

The meeting had taken quite a bit longer than he had expected though. Rebekah had to reschedule several of his meetings since he hadn't expected there to be this many adjustments. Overall he was satisfied though, it hadn't been easy but he had the Salvatore's in his reign, he could live with the parts of the contract that he had to give up.

He just hoped that next time he saw his partner, he would stop hitting on his sister. Klaus had wanted to hit the man every time Rebekah entered the room and Damon's eyes were glued to her ass. A part of him hoped that Damon just was like that with any woman, he wasn't sure what kind of damage he would bring to a new man that entered Rebekah's life.

Rebekah entered his office and looked quite pleased with herself. "So it seemed that you managed to get the Salvatore brother on board," she stated and Klaus resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her obvious observation.

"You doubted me?" he asked her.

"No of course not, I'm just saying it would have been a pity if you missed out on that opportunity just because you were late and no one was around to keep him busy. See why you need a new assistant?"

This time Klaus did roll his eyes. "If it's a thank you that you're looking for, here is it. It was a good thing that you were around. I ran late but it won't happen again, I won't need your help again Rebekah," Klaus said hoping that she got the message. He didn't need her help, he didn't need anyones.

"Fine Nik, whatever. Just know that if you do need help, you can always ask," Rebekah offered before she left his office. She was done with her brother's attitude for today. "Oh before I forgot, I just made fresh coffee, I trust you can pour yourself your own drink."

Klaus ignored his sister and continued his work, he would have to set up new meetings with the companies he had to decline today. He better come up with something good to appease them. He worked through the files and searched around, hoping a new idea would come to him. His day had gone of on a bad start but it hadn't turned out that awful. He just had to make sure that Damon Salvatore didn't got to comfortable making demands, Klaus needed to think of a way to make that man know his place.

* * *

Katherine and Caroline were lying on the couch, two empty bottles of wine lying on the floor. "Yeah but what if no one hires me?" Caroline suddenly cried out, "I mean I have a bad track record with rejections. No one ever picks me."

Katherine looked up at her friend and grabbed her hand. "That's not true. Tyler picked you-" she started saying before Caroline interrupted her.

"Yeah but then he ditched me out of the blue, so no he never put me first."

"What about Matt? You were the one dumping him weren't you?" Katherine tried.

"Only because he was still pining after your darling sister. He had her on some pedestal even after she cheated on him, ugh."

"Well what about-" Katherine stopped for a moment and traced all the people in their life and realized that Caroline has made a point. No one had ever put her first, not even her parents. I mean Caroline had been popular in High School but when that period finished, the friends disappeared as well. So had she, she had left Mystic Falls first change she got. She had broken contact with everyone that lived there, well everyone but Caroline that is. She was the only one that knew her address and when she stood in front of her door a month ago she let her in without a second guess. "Me. What about me."

Caroline looked at Katherine and noticed how the girl almost looked distressed at her, it was like she feared that Caroline had forgotten about her like everyone else had. It was something that brought them that much closer she thought. "You're right!" she told her, "You're always there for me and that's why you're my best friend. I love you Kat."

"I love you too Carebear," Katherine replied and moved in for a hug. They kept a hold on each other for a few more minutes until Katherine pulled back. "We need more wine," she murmured and went to the kitchen.

"Oh bring the Cheetos with you!" Caroline called after her, "I'm having a craving!"

Katherine laughed at her friend but returned with a new bottle and bag of Cheetos. She would do anything for her friend, as long as Caroline would need her.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter and the next one will be longer again. Klaus will be reminded about Kol's challenge again and two characters will meet (sorry not Klaus and Caroline, not yet)**

**Also I want to do a thing, I'm already at 20 reviews which blows my mind so to thank you guys for reviewing: Every 25th review will get either a sneek peak for my next chapter or can ask me a question about the story. I will send you a message to let you choose :) Thank you for everything and I'll see you later!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi! Fourth chapter already and I'm not even a week in :) Thank you for everyone that reviewed, followed, favorited and read this story. Yes don't forget the readers :) I wouldn't be updating so fast if it wasn't for you guys! I love reading your reviews and seeing new readers, it's what keeps me motivated to write. Well that and I like this story quite a bit myself!**

**Now last chapter I announched that everyy 25th reviewer would get either a sneek peak for the next chapter or could ask any question:** _Tigerlily02 _**was my 25th review and if you read this, I sent you a message yesterday but I haven't heard anything back yet. You can still come to collect ;)**

**For the other readers there's a challenge at the end of this chapter as well and you would a) really help me out if you do it and b) help yourself to something as well.**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

Caroline woke up around noon that following day and she was exhausted. She needed to get in a regular rhythm again, she was used to wake up early mornings and have a lot to do all day. This sitting around the house and waking up late wasn't agreeing with her, she felt like she hadn't slept a minute.

Unfortunately once again she wasn't sure about how she would occupy her day. She really wanted to do something fun today especially after all the job hunting of the last weeks but that could wait for when she heard something back from one of the companies. At least one should get her an interview at least wouldn't it? She knew she wasn't bad in anyway so she wondered what it was that she was doing wrong.

Ugh she didn't want to busy herself worrying again. She dragged herself out of her bed and quickly went to fix herself some breakfast, when she noticed Katherine's closed door she made sure to grab enough of everything to make two. She was busy now anyway, the least she could do was make a breakfast for her best friend as well.

She searched the fridge for some eggs and bacon but quickly discovered that they were almost out of both. Well she could probably make half a portion for each... maybe she could make something else to make up for the lack of food. She settled on pancakes but then realized that to make those she would have to sacrifice the eggs.

She growled, someone really, really needed to do some groceries and soon otherwise they would starve to death. She was surprised there had actually been wine and chips the night before but that was probably because Katherine did the groceries last time, she would make sure to grab those but forget something like eggs. And milk apparently. Who didn't have milk? Well apparently they didn't.

She put everything back and walked back to her room putting on the first jeans she found and a sweater. She didn't waste time showering or put on make up, she just brushed her teeth, bound her hair together in a messy bun and was ready to leave the house. She just needed to do groceries soon and make sure that they had everything to live like decent human beings for a few more days again. No take out or cereal, actual food.

It had taken Caroline about an hour and a lot of patience but in the end she returned towards her apartment with a bag filled with food and even some vegetables. They should probably eat something healthy once in a while as well she figured.

She hadn't anticipated the trip to take this long but she had quickly discovered that she didn't actually had that much money on her and she had forgotten to grab her cards. She only had about ten dollar left now but she just had to make it work. She could always ask Katherine if she could get a shift in the bar if she really needed the money. Not as a bartender of course, but she could wait tables during the day, if only for a few days. Nope, she told herself, you wouldn't lower yourself to that. You have your goals and if you take the easy way you can't focus on them.

But what if she wasn't lowering herself? What if that was everything she could do? She opened the door and was greeted by the sight of Katherine Pierce sitting at the counter draining her cup of coffee. The girl barely noticed her when she entered the apartment until her eye caught the bag of groceries.

"Please tell me there's something greasy in there!" Katherine whined and let her head rest on the counter. "I can hold my booze, so why do I feel like I was hit by a train?" she asked and Caroline had to hold back her laughter.

She and Katherine might have shared those three bottles of wine but she knew pretty well who ended drinking the most of the two. Besides Katherine always assumed her limit was a mile higher than it actually appeared to be. Still she ignored the brunette and grabbed a frying pan and those cursed eggs and bacon that were still lying in the fridge.

She quickly turned on the fire while she unpacked and made sure that both her and Katherine had a nice breakfast, lunch, brunch or whatever it was called consisting of some pancakes, eggs and a side of bacon. And coffee! Lots and lots of coffee!

* * *

"Niklaus!" he heard his name once again being yelled by his sister and finally pressed the intercom allowing them to speak.

"Sister, what seems to be the trouble?" he asked wondering why Rebekah had the urge to keep screaming his name.

"This makes no sense!" she bit out and he rolled his eyes at the machine, she certainly didn't. "Everything is so disorganized and you've only been without an assistant for three days! You need to get someone in here and fast!"

Klaus couldn't find himself to agree with his sister, everything was perfectly fine. His appointments were going as planned, apart for the reschedules after Mr. Salvatore's visit, and he was actually working on a new business plan. It wasn't like he actually needed someone behind that desk. He could handle it perfectly. "Rebekah I think you're overreacting. Everything is perfectly fine, you're just not used to have to work for a change." He muted the intercom making sure that he couldn't be disturbed by Rebekah's colorful phrases.

If Rebekah thought that it was hard to plan his meetings and take a few calls she should know how it was on this side of the desk. He had no inspiration whatsoever and he still had to approve several advertisements of the marketing department. They had handed him several concepts that they wanted to present to the client but he was unhappy with all of them.

They all seemed so made, so plastic. He needed something real, it was for a fucking gala at the museum of Natural History not a cosmetic surgeon. He looked at the design and wondered what should change to make it fit the concept. It was a charity his company threw with the museum to raise clients and investors for both parties. It had been one of Mikael's old concepts but one of the only few that Klaus hadn't disliked. He like museums even the one without art, he supposed art was something you could see in anything if you looked well enough.

He was disturbed by his thoughts by the ringing from his phone, he wondered why the call hadn't go to Rebekah but maybe she had redirected it. The big clients were put through him automatically.

"Mikaelson Global, Klaus Mikaelson speaking," he answered the phone and was surprised when he was greeted with the assistant of one of their partners. The girl seemed quite thrown to get into direct contact with him as well and barely managed to ask him about the arrival of their new contract. When the call was ended he called for his sister, wanting to give her an earful but he was once again surprised when he got no reply, he had expected her to at least throw a colorful response his way. Not complete silence.

He exited his office and looked at the desk Rebekah should be occupying, instead of a blonde head he noticed a pair of legs resting on the table.

"Klaus, I wondered how long it would take you to realize Rebekah had quit for today," he noticed Klaus murderous expression and calmed him, "No worries, she will be back tomorrow to help you out but she mumbled something about your attitude on her way out. Now what have you done this time to piss off our only sister?"

Kol kept his smirk on his face while he got up from behind the desk. Without a further word to Klaus he entered his office and took a new seat. "Well are you going to explain or should I ask her myself?"

Klaus ignored his brother's questions. "What are you doing here?"

"Me? Well I came by to deliver the lovely applications that our brother has received yesterday. Since there's quite a hurry to get you a new assistant we can hold some interviews tomorrow." Kol held up the stack of paper in his hands, "All Elijah approved, I just came here to let you know that you will have the Kol approved ones soon. We all know that's the only approval that really counts anyway."

"I don't need an assistant!" Klaus growled at his brother, he was getting tired of everyone going back on this point. He could do it himself, he didn't need anyone's help.

"Oh but you know that this isn't really about getting you an assistant. We made a deal two nights ago. You have to screw all the girls that you interview and if you don't... I get the Hybrid."

"You want my car!" Klaus shout out in outrage, he had gotten the newest Lexus only a few weeks before. Of course Kol would have wanted it from him. "Why would you want a hybrid anyway?" he barely reacted to the other part of what Kol had said. The deal did rang a bell somewhere.

"I don't, I just want that car and it just happens to only come in a hybrid form. But that's beside the point. I came here for the girls, there were quite a few attractive ones wanting to work here, weird bunch."

"How did you get their photo's?" Klaus wondered not even reacting on the deal at the moment, too absorbed by his brother's change of subjects.

"Oh some sent one with their applications, others I found on the Internet, it's funny to see what people post on there. All perfect applicants approved by Elijah, I'm going to spit them out now and make out calls later. You'll see what I have here later." Kol already moved back towards the door before Klaus could get another word between.

"So what was it that you had to give up if I won?" Klaus questioned and smirked when he saw Kol visibly pale. This should be good.

* * *

"I'm coming!" Caroline screamed at the ringing phone. Katherine had left for work already and she wondered who there could possibly be ringing their house phone. It was almost 6 PM and she had just wanted to have a quiet afternoon, making some dinner and clean around a bit. Kat made an awful mess and she wasn't much better.

"Caroline Forbes, this is Katherine's phone," she automatically called her own name before she remembered that the call would most likely be for Katherine. It was her house, her phone of course.

"Miss Forbes. Good I'm glad that I managed to get a hold of you so quickly," Caroline paled at that, who could have been possibly been searching for her, and how had they known that she was at Katherine's? No one knew of that. Before she could say anything the voice continued. "I'm Kol Mikaelson, we've received an application of you this morning." Caroline let out a breathe that she hadn't known she was holding.

"Oh Mr. Mikaelson, the personal assistant position," Caroline choked out and Kol let out a laugh.

"Well that would be my brother's but yes that's why I'm calling. I was wondering if you could come over for an interview with Klaus tomorrow." Kol said and Caroline couldn't pinpoint what it was in his voice that made her suspect he was enjoying this too much. Maybe he just liked to bring good news to people?

"Klaus?" she asked and she wanted to hit herself on the head. She was just asked for an interview and all she could focus on was a stupid name? "I mean- of course. I can definitely make it tomorrow."

"Well that's good news, and to answer your prior question. Klaus is my brother, the CEO of the company."

"Yeah I know I just was a bit thrown at you using his first name, but since you two are related..." She tried to dig herself out of the hole she had made. Well she certainly made an impression already.

"Don't worry about it Miss Forbes, we have time at 1:15 PM, could you make it then?" Caroline nodded at her phone before she remembered that he wouldn't be able to see that.

"Yeah! That would be fine. I'll be there," she said before she hung up the phone. All of the sudden she realized that she had forgotten to ask where she was supposed to be but luckily the phone rang again. "I'm sorry!" she squeaked out, "I totally forgot to ask where I'm supposed to be tomorrow. Ugh!"

She could hear the man on the phone let out a loud laugh, "Don't worry about it, I'm sure you'll do fine tomorrow. If you enter the building you can just introduce yourself at the front desk, they'll give you further instructions. Now Miss Forbes, before you hang up on me again, have a good night."

"Yeah good night." Caroline said before she hang up again. She looked at the phone for a minute before she started to squeal. She did it! She had an interview! And she had just made an complete ass of herself on the phone. Well that and she still had to wear the dress tomorrow, she was fine with the dress. It was gorgeous but Katherine's rules however... she would have some troubles with those. Especially the second one: anyone that hit on her while she wore that dress would have a three minute chance before she could turn him down.

According to Katherine, everyone who would hit on her while she looked like that at least had great taste so should get a chance. Luckily it hadn't meant that she couldn't reject anyone that came on too aggressively, Katherine hadn't wanted her to be in danger. She had just hoped that this way Caroline would put her more open, she had barely talked to a guy after Tyler.

Well she should probably get to Katherine to tell her the good news and she could definitely use a celebratory drink, she didn't had a job yet but now she knew she could get an interview at last. She looked down at herself. Well she wasn't going to go to the bar like that, she should probably wear something else than a sweater.

She went back into her room and changed into a purple top and some heels. She added some make-up before she left and quickly made her way down town. She wondered how Katherine would react when she told her about the interview. She would probably pretend that she had always known and oh no. She groaned, that meant that Katherine would probably make up the third and final rule over the dress. She feared what her friend could come up with.

* * *

**So this chapter is kinda 2 parts I guess, the next chapter will be the night at the bar and a continuatation of Kol and Klaus' conversation and more of his day. **

_**Challenge:  
**_**Now for the next chapter I need another rule for Katherine's dress and Kol's part of the wager. What is he going to give up and what will Katherine ask from Caroline? If you have an idea or suggestion put it in a review, PM me, whatever! I would love to know and if I end up using your idea you'll get the whole chapter a day early. That and you get to name one of the other girls that will be interviewed.**

**Well until next time!**


	5. Chapter 5

**So I wanted to thank** _ReadingLove13_ **for her suggestion about Kol's stakes****and** _Tigerlily02 _**for Katherine's last rule. I've heard some great ideas but these two just fitted the story a lot as well! Because they won that meant they had read this chapter yesterday already, so they know what happens. For the rest of you, this is the longest chapter till now and I really enjoyed writing it!**

**Special thanks to**_ Unverse_** and **_NateBuzzLover.5 . _**Unfortunately I haven't managed to incorporate your ideas in this chapter but I did enjoy reading your suggestions a lot. Thank you for the review and to take the time to come up with something!**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

"_So what was it that you had to give up if I won?" Klaus questioned and smirked when he saw Kol visibly pale. This should be good._

"That's uh, that's unimportant." Kol told him while going through the stack of papers, "I just wanted to remind you of our deal and ask you for your schedule for tomorrow. I need to plan these girls in."

"Kol you're avoiding my question. What did you agree on? It must have been good if I wager my car," Klaus pressed and he noticed how Kol was moving his weight from one leg to another, he was embarrassed! What could have been this bad? Klaus wondered. He wasn't really interested in the deal yet, he just made it while drunk. But now that he knew he was risking his car he would probably go through with it. It just all depended on whatever Kol had drunkenly wagered.

"It's nothing important really, besides what does it matters what I wagered, it's not like you're going to win. I have enough faith in the woman in New York to know that at least one should reject you," Kol insisted while he tried to ignore Klaus' prying eyes, he wanted to escape Klaus' office but was stopped by his voice.

"Oh no, you're staying here until you tell me what you're so scared of telling me. I mean it must be good, but if you don't want me to know it must be more than just good. You must regret it!" Klaus smiled at the thought, he needed to know what Kol had decided on. It wasn't like his brother to be this evasive about some stupid stakes of a bet. They had done stupid things of these a lot of times before.

"Fine. Because I wanted your car so bad... If you win, I have to drive you around in it for a month. There happy!" Kol quickly spoke the words and he looked particularly horrified by the idea of having to drive Klaus around for a month. To have Klaus boss him around... Klaus loved it!

"Oh no I'm definitely in! So am I allowed to see his lovely girls that will give me a new driver or are you planning on keeping them to yourself?" Klaus barked out a laugh, apparently they both had put stupid staked for this bet... He could stop the bet but why should he, he knew he would win and besides what was the harm? He was only doing these women a favor.

Kol hugged the stack close to his chest. "Nope, not until tomorrow. I don't want you to have any favorites now do I. Now if I were you I would enjoy that car tonight, because it's the last time you will drive it."

Klaus laughed at that, "Yeah, because starting tomorrow, you'll drive it for me!"

"You wish!" Kol bit back before he left Klaus' office. There is no way I'm going to lose this bet, they both thought.

With Kol gone, Klaus focused his attention on the Gala advertisement. He wanted something different but clearly his department hadn't delivered. He grabbed a paper and some pencil and tried to make a sketch of what he had in his mind but he couldn't get it out on paper. He hadn't been able to draw anything for almost a year so it shouldn't be a surprise. Still he hoped that by now he was over it, that he could at least make something for his work... Apparently not.

He tried again several times but every damn time he couldn't find any inspiration. He knew that these designs wouldn't work, but he couldn't form what he did want. He couldn't envision it, in frustration he threw away the pencil. It wasn't going to work. Not today, probably not ever.

He was pulled out of his frustrations when the phone rang once again, he really needed to have a talk with Rebekah about her little stunt. He had to take a few call today already and he really didn't have the time for any of that. "Mikaelson," he answered, done with being polite, if he had another little assistant on that line he would fire her. She might not work for him, but he would bloody make sure it would be possible.

"Stefan Salvatore," he heard on that line and he instantly sat upright. He had spoken with Stefan over the phone and by email and they had actually worked together surprisingly well, surprisingly because Klaus had almost always trouble to work with someone. He preferred to work on his own. He had expected to meet him at the meeting of the previous day instead of that nuisance Damon. He had guts, he had to admit that but still he needed to know his place.

"Stefan mate, how can I help you?" he asked him.

"Well I heard from my brother that he made quite a few changes to the contract and I was wondering if you could come by later this week to discuss the changes? I heard from Damon that we also need to find a new office so it might be better if we all meet to figure that out."

"Sounds good, I think I have time on Friday, I'll come by at noon?" Klaus offered.

"Sure, we'll be sure we're around at that time. Just make sure you have the new contract with you, Damon might have forgotten a few of the changes." Klaus rolled his eyes at that, of course the older brother had barely paid attention to the parts that he didn't care about. Well luckily he had it all written down, he just needed to make a copy but that could wait till later.

He pushed the designs away and finally continued with the rest of his work, there were several business plans he had to approve and Elijah still waited for his decision on the new budget for the IT-department. He knew it was good, he just didn't want to give Elijah his approval too easy. He wanted to make sure he had looked at it properly before he decided and now that he had, he could tell him later.

* * *

"Caroline what are you doing here!?" Katherine exclaimed when she noticed her walk in the bar.

She put on a fake offended face, "What, is a girl no longer allowed to visit her best friend at her work?"

"No, but you've never came up with it yourself. Most days I either have to beg, bribe or kidnap you," Katherine stated.

"You say that like I'm such a bore," Caroline replied wounded by her friend's description, Katherine just giggled.

"Are you kidding, I know you aren't. It's why I keep wanting you to come with. Now what do you want to drink?" Katherine asked while she pushed Caroline in the direction of a chair. "Sit," she demanded while she went back behind the bar.

Caroline noticed that it was still fairly empty in the place, it was still early of course but it seemed to be for the best. She noticed that someone behind the bar was missing today, "Hey where's Bonnie? Is she off today?" she asked Katherine.

Katherine shook her head, "Nope she's sick, so I'm alone today. I'll be alright, Wednesdays are tolerable usually."

"Oh is she alright?" she asked concerned. She liked Katherine's co-worker, she was a nice girl, born and raised in New York and always had some interesting stories to tell.

"She'll be fine," Katherine waved her of with her arm. "Now enough about Bonnie, what do you want to drink?"

"Well..." Caroline thought about it for three seconds, "What would you advise for a girl that has a job interview tomorrow?"

"No way!" Katherine shouted out, "No way! I knew it! I knew you could do it!" Caroline could swear that at one point Katherine had even jumped in the air a bit but her friend heavily denied it. "Where?"

"Mikaelson Global, they called me about an hour ago," Caroline told her and she grinned at her friend's antics.

"Okay I want to give you champagne for that but let's be honest, we don't have that here," Katherine handed her a glass, "So the best I can give you is some white wine, but it's on the house!"

"Thanks," Caroline had already grabbed her wallet and had noticed the lonely ten dollar bill. She should keep it easy with the drinks tonight, even if he got hired tomorrow, she would still be broke for a few more days. She should get another part of her deployment check from Ms. Lockwood after the weekend, hopefully this one would last a bit longer.

Katherine say down next to Caroline in front of the bar and they shared another drinks and Katherine told her about the girl that had tripped and threw her beer over her boyfriend. Katherine had enjoyed watching that a bit too much from the enthusiastic way she was telling the story. She had to go back behind the bar a couple of times but it had been relatively quiet until now. More people started to walk in and Katherine was busy taking orders.

Well while Katherine was busy she could easily use the time to go to the bathroom. When she got back she had to quickly walk around a guy who almost jumped in her way, she barely avoided colliding with him and she had no desire to get any closer. When she saw the bar she noticed Katherine talking to a guy, from the way Katherine was standing -confident, leaning a bit forward and a playful sparkle in her eyes- it was clear her friend was flirting. She wondered who the lucky guy would be.

"You should meet my friend Caroline," she could hear Katherine say while she walked closer, she had already shot her a smile she knew she was there.

"Caroline," Katherine pointed at her and the man turned around to see her, he had dark hair and eyes. And he was wearing a suit, Caroline hadn't expected to ever see Katherine flirt with a guy in a suit again. "This is Elijah. Elijah, meet my best friend Caroline."

Elijah immediately extended his hand to her, "It's my pleasure, Caroline."

She could see the appeal, he seemed so nice and just a gentleman at all fronts. So unlike Katherine's normal type though, she should definitely ask the girl about that later. She grabbed his hand and thanked him before she joined them at the bar. They included her in some conversations in the beginning and she learned that Katherine had met Elijah when he was here a few nights earlier. They ended up talking and he was in the neighborhood so had wanted to stop by again. Caroline ended bullshit on that last part. He had wanted to stop by alright but she doubted that he really was that close by.

Caroline looked at the two while they were lost in an debate over casual wear over business attire, Katherine tried to talk him out of the suits but Elijah wouldn't budge. They were so lost in their conversation that they barely noticed when some guy had been calling for Katherine, he wanted to order but she didn't notice.

Caroline couldn't get it in her to interrupt and she had heard the guy's order. He only wanted a couple of beers, she knew where they were, Katherine had showed her around and showed her some tricks. Besides she had worked in the Grill a few months during High School, she could wait a table or tend a bar if she needed to to help her friend.

She quickly sneaked behind Katherine and walked towards the guy, he was blond with bright blue eyes, he almost reminded her of one of her exes Matt. "What will you have?"

"Three beers, no wait make it four," he told her and he looked at her appreciatively.

She quickly grabbed them from the fridge and put them on the bar, he gave her some cash and when she wanted to grab him some change he told her to keep it. "For helping out when your friend was clearly busy," he pointed his beer in the direction of Katherine and Elijah and she smiled at the two who had barely realized that she had left.

"Thanks, I should probably warn her though, I don't think her boss would be happy with having some friend tend the bars for her," Caroline said while she turned around. She heard the guy laugh in response.

"Wait," he told her and grabbed another of his beers, "This one is for you, for the troubles."

She smiled, "Thanks!" she took a sip and walked back to Elijah and Katherine. Someone else had already filled the place at the bar, waiting to order but Caroline excused herself. "I just have to get the real bartender," she said and sped towards Katherine. She had given the girl a few extra minutes but there was no way she was going to risk being asked something that she had no idea about. Beer she could serve and charge, wine, yeah she could handle wine, but that was it as far as this bar's hiding places for alcohol and prices.

"Kat," she hit her friend's shoulder while she passed her effectively getting her attention drawn from Elijah.

Katherine turned her head towards her in bewilderment, "Care, what are you doing behind the bar?"

"Some guy needed some beers so I took his order, there's a woman wanting to order as well but I'm not sure I'll be able to help her. Beer is easy but I'm not going to search this whole place for some weird drink." Elijah let out a chuckle at that and Caroline looked up in surprise, she hadn't realized he was listening.

"I'm just going to go do my job then..." Katherine said and gave Elijah a last glance before she left. Yeah Caroline was definitely interrogating her friend about that tomorrow.

"So what have I missed?" Caroline asked while she sat next to Elijah.

"Well Katherine seemed to be very interested in the limits of female business attire. It sounds like she wants to know what is still deemed appropriate but also well to use her words... hot." Caroline couldn't help it, but their was something terribly funny about hearing Elijah use that word like that. She could see him struggle to find another word that he could use but this was definitely better.

"So what did you tell her?" she wondered why Katherine would want to know this but she feared it had something to do with her...

"Well it depends on the company you work at, some are stricter than others but it does have to be proper. It just all depends on your boss I suppose." Just as he finished Katherine returned, she had caught his last words and smiled.

"Good, you caught her up. Well that means I can tell you your last rule honey. You have to dress more like me, no scratch that, like the old Caroline. I love new Caroline as much as the old one but you can look way better than this and you know it. Don't be afraid to show a bit of skin or cleavage," Elijah was moving away from the conversation now, "I'm not saying dress exactly like me, but get that daring side of yours back. I miss that side of you, and I know you miss it as well. After you get a job, we're going to shop and you can't turn down anything that I pick out for you!"

Caroline groaned, "Kat I can't just shop and buy a shit load of stuff!"

"I'm not saying that you have to buy a lot, just a few things. Especially work clothes, I mean look at that dress it looks smoking on you and you know you love it." Caroline couldn't deny that and Katherine knew I, besides they did have a deal.

"Okay, but this is the last rule that you can make!" Caroline warned and took another sip of her beer. She waved over Elijah, "You can come back now!" she yelled at him and he quickly returned sitting next to Katherine.

Katherine still had to leave occasionally to tend the bar but she had been right before, it was a slow night. After a few hours she could feel someone tap her shoulder, she turned around and noticed the guy she had helped earlier, he clearly had drank a few beers since last time they spoke. "Uhm, Hi?" she said, a bit unsure about what he wanted.

"It's Marc," he said while he leaned in a closer, "So I was wondering how many more drinks I had to buy you until you went back to my place."

"Excuse me!" she yelled out and jumped from her seat, that had been a mistake, this way he was only closer to her.

He grabbed her wrist and tried to pull her with her, "You heard me, my place. Come one."

She tried to pull free, struggled in his grip but he had a strong hold on her. She looked around but no one seemed to notice, Katherine was behind the bar and Elijah, oh Elijah did notice. He was just about to move towards her when all of the sudden someone blocked their path and when when Marc was about to protest he got punched in his face. Marc fell on the ground and almost dragged Caroline with him, she almost lost her footing but before she fell on top of Marc the stranger had his arms wrapped around her waist, stabilizing her. She pulled her hand out of Marc's ground and she felt the loss of arms around her. Now that she had her balance back she turned around wanting to thank the guy for his help but he had already turned around and left her alone.

He seemed to be talking to Elijah and they appeared to know each other, Caroline observed them for a few moments. They were definitely familiar with each other and Caroline hoped to at least catch a glimpse of the man that helped her out and then just left. When he turned around she caught a flash of blue eyes and a cocky smirk when his eyes met hers.

She walked over to Elijah, "Who was that?" she asked him.

"That was my brother Nik. Why?" he asked her and she wasn't sure why she had wanted to know. Well she did know, she wasn't used to people helping her without asking anything in return. They always wanted something from her and here this stranger had just left before she could so much as thank him.

"Well thank him for me next time you see him. He hit that guy pretty good." It was the least Caroline could think off, she wouldn't be able to get it out of her mind if she didn't at least thanked him.

Elijah smiled at that, "I'll be sure to pass the message."

* * *

When Klaus had tried to call Elijah earlier that night he hadn't reacted, now a couple of hours later he finally received a text from his brother. Apparently he was back at the bar again. Klaus wondered what his brother was doing there, Elijah wasn't one to go to a bar alone but it didn't matter. He could find his brother the following day but he knew he would be busy with his interviews then... Elijah said that he needed the verdict soon so Klaus quickly made way to the bar.

When he entered he noticed that it was quite a bit emptier than it had been on Monday, it worked for him now because he found his brother with ease. He just wanted to walk over to him when he noticed his alarmed look, Elijah got ready to walk over there and Klaus followed his glare.

He noticed a guy almost dragging a girl with him. The girl was clearly struggling but she didn't seem to get loose, for a second he saw another figure in her place but he blinked and she was gone. He shook his head, it wasn't her. Still, he wouldn't let anyone be treated like that, if it was her boyfriend or not, if he was drunk or not.

He quickly walked over to the couple, blocking the guy's way to the exit and he was just about to protest when Klaus' fist collided with his face. The guy fell down on the floor immediately, definitely drunk, unfortunately he still had a grasp on the blonde and he almost pulled her down with her.

Klaus quickly wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her close to make sure she stayed standing, he felt her body heat this close by and he wanted to punch himself for getting involved. He shouldn't mix himself in these businesses, besides Elijah already seemed to be on his way to help the girl so why did he felt the need to jump in... He knew why, he just didn't want to think about it.

He felt the girl step back, trying to free her wrist from the guy's grasp. Her movement only brought her closer to him and he quickly released her, trying to create space between them. When he saw that she succeeded and was released he quickly turned around towards his brother. She could handle it on our own now.

Elijah still had his eyes trained on the girl, he seemed to have observed the whole thing and Klaus realized that the rest of the establishments customers had barely taken notice. That or they hadn't cared. It wasn't his business, he told himself, he was here only to give Elijah something.

"So I've read through the budget and I know you had the deadline set on tomorrow but I'm afraid that with all the interviews and regular business I won't have the time to inform you then. So I just came by to tell you that it's approved."

Elijah nodded in response, and he seemed to bite back another question. Klaus just wanted to leave this dreaded place. "I'm gonna leave, I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah I'll see you then. And please take these interviews seriously Klaus, you really need someone reliable and strong... she won't last for longer than a week if she doesn't have some backbone."

Klaus let out a laugh at that, if only Elijah knew how seriously he was taking these interviews. Not in the way he was warning him to though, still it's not like the job was a big deal. He just needed someone to take the phone calls and do some small jobs in between. Anyone could do it.

While he walked out of the place he felt eyes burn in the back of his back and he turned around for a moment, trying to figure out who was following him with their gaze. His eyes met vibrant blue ones and he threw her a smirk. He could see that it was a pretty girl but he wasn't interested in some girl that saw him as some savior. He wasn't anyone's savior and he would never be.

* * *

**So what did you think of this chapter? A lot happened this chapter, what was your favorite part?**

**Important note: Next chapter will be Klaus holding his interviews! The reason this whole story exists in the first place.  
Exactly a week ago I started writing this story and we're already at chapter 5. I hope I can continue this speed! Also I made a cover for this story :)  
**


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you so much for everyone who reads this story. I don't think I would have continued this fast without your support. **

**A special thanks to **_Readinglove13, Ellavm18, klaroline4everlove, guest _**(whoever you are) and**_ walkinginthegardengnome _**for leaving a review. Receiving and reading your reviews really made my day!**

**So here is the next chapter, for all of you that reads this story and I hope you'll enjoy it.**

**Warning: This story was M-rated for a reason, there is sexual content in this chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

Klaus was actually looking up some nearby offices online to offer to the Salvatore brothers that next day when he was interrupted by Rebekah entering his room. "Look who finally showed up," he sneered at her. If it wasn't for her abrupt leave that day before he wouldn't have wasted all his precious time having to talk to some assistants or schedule a meet. So that's what he told his sister as well, "You made me waste a lot of time taking the phone Rebekah, were did you went of to?"

Rebekah laughed at that, "If you hadn't muted me you would have heard me telling you that I was leaving. You could have stopped me if you wanted so as you didn't, I could only assume you were okay with it. Besides what does it matter, I've heard you say a thousand times that you don't need an assistant," Rebekah paused for a moment, "Are you ready to admit you do?"

"I don't need anyone!" Klaus growled out and Rebekah rolled her eyes at him.

"Really Nik? Is it so difficult to admit that sometimes you need some help?"

"I can handle it alone fine." Klaus insisted and Rebekah laughed at that.

"Really? You think you're going to do fine? You're whining because you had to take the phone a few times for one afternoon. Be happy I scheduled these interviews before I left, Kol called me to see when you had the time tomorrow and I rescheduled some small things. We're not asking you to hire a partner, someone to work with. Just someone to do the chores you so despise, to answer the phone, plan your meetings and organize some stuff. And apparently pick up your dry-cleaning since that's apparently so important to you. Bless Kol for coming with the idea of a personal assistant, at least she can't refuse these stupid chores you come up with as easily."

When Rebekah finished her rant Klaus looked up in shock. His sister had made a decent point, he only had to make his assistant do the things he despised but that still didn't change a thing. He couldn't trust any of these girls. All they wanted was to get close to him, to get a job and get money. It was why he knew he would win the bet, there was no way any girl would resist him, they would offer themselves just to get a better change at being hired and it was why Klaus instantly disliked them. People like that were just going to sell him out if even the smallest opportunity would arise.

He couldn't tell his sister that though, so he settled on a nod. "I have the interview today and if I speak to a girl that seems suitable I'll hire her. If I don't... well than that's bad luck isn't it." He didn't have to explain to Rebekah that he doubted that there would be anyone there that would pique his interest but she also knew that it was the most he would give in.

"Just give these girls a chance Nik, take this serious." Again with the warning to take this seriously, did his siblings distrust him that much? Sure he was planning on having sex with all the girls that Kol had scheduled for today but they didn't know about that. Did he really deserve their distrust that automatically? Apparently they thought he did.

"You sound like Elijah," was the only response he gave her before he got back to his work.

Rebekah, recognizing the dismissal went to her desk and left him to his work. It wasn't short after that Kol entered his room, Klaus knew he would have his first interview in a couple of minutes but he hadn't expected Kol to swing by before that.

"Okay so I figured you probably need to know some stuff about these ladies... I mean it's an interview and you should know their background I suppose. So here I have the resume of the first girl, I know you won't bother reading it so these are the highlights."

Kol dropped a piece of paper on his desk and Klaus saw the face op a petite brunette on it. "This is Kirstin, she's twenty-two years old, grew up in New York, just graduated some administrative course, Elijah checked it so it must be good. She's not that experienced yet though, worked some assistant jobs, taking the phone and taking notes but nothing intense and her Facebook status showed that she is single. I was nice enough to check those first as well. Any more questions?"

"Yes. Why are you here?"

"Let's call it moral support, and someone needs to check if you actually come through on your part or if you lose. I'll just make sure that I'm close by when the candidates leave. It won't be hard to see which one you took, and which you failed to get," a smirk graced Kol's face and Klaus almost wanted to punch it of his face. Really was all of this necessary?

"Whatever, I'll just go to the second floor. It's where I'll hold the "Interviews" I'm not going to risk Rebekah meddling in my affairs." He was interrupted by Rebekah announcing that the first person had announced herself at the reception. He gave her instructions to tell her and got ready to leave, he tried to ignore Kol trailing behind him.

When he turned around to shoo Kol away he only shrugged, "What? I get to at least see the ladies that I picked out for you."

"Fine." When he reached the office he noticed the blonde sitting in front of it. She looked young but determined. She knew why she was here and Klaus respected it, too bad she wouldn't get it. He noticed how she was dressed, very formal in a black pencil skirt and a grey blouse. It didn't suit her age but she probably had wanted to play it safe. Well now it was up to him to figure out how safe.

He introduced himself and asked the girl to tell her about herself. She did so but Klaus wasn't really listening. He leaned forward, taking the girl in and trying to figure out how he would approach her. It wasn't like in a bar where he could just blatantly hit on her, he had to tread carefully.

So he moved forward, acting as if he was avidly listening and threw in a compliment or two, when she dropped her pen he grabbed his change. He bowed down next to her and made sure their hands got intertwined. When she didn't pull back right away he knew he had a change. Getting back in his seat he made sure to shove it a bit closer to her.

"So tell me something about yourself that I can't find her, your supposed to be my personal assistant. Doesn't that mean we should get personal?" his voice got lower when he spoke those last words and he knew he had at least some of her interest.

She nodded at him, "What do you need to know?"

"Well your outfit seems really proper, are you that type of girl as well or is there more to you?" He was pretty sure that the only reason she wore this was because she thought this was what she needed to wear, well he wasn't one for complete formal wear, that was Elijah's thing.

"Oh this, it's mainly for work. My parents got it for me so I thought it was suited for an interview but I like other things myself. I wouldn't call myself proper, I just know what I want and when I find a way to get it, I go after it."

"And how would you say you get what you want here?"

"Well to show you that I will do whatever I can to help you."

"And how can you show me that if all we do is talk?" Klaus voice got low and he hoped the girl got the message underneath.

Apparently she did because she got out of her seat and sat on the table opposite him, her legs dangling in front of him. "Well that depends on what it is you need I suppose. I mean there are certain things I could help with," she almost purred the words and in that moment Klaus knew he had her.

He put his arms around her waist, dragging her in his lap. The girl looked surprised but then a determined expression crossed her face. She was quick to unbutton his shirt while he crept his hands higher up her legs.

When she had undone his shirt he could feel her hot breath on his chest before she trailed kisses there, sucking on his skin and teeth tugging at his flesh. Meanwhile he was once again realizing how terribly inconvenient pencil skirts were for sex on a chair, he couldn't raise it in this position so he lifted her up and put her back on the table.

Kirstin let out a yelp, she hadn't expected to be pulled away from him and she seemed to think she had done something wrong, like she had misinterpreted the situation. He pulled his chair away and stood between her legs, pulling her closer and burying his face in the crook of her neck. He could hear her breath quicken while he sucked on her skin making sure he left a mark, it would be something that Kol would notice if he saw her leave.

He lowered her hands behind her, letting them roam over her spine and she shivered under his touch. He felt around for a bit until he found the zipper of the skirt and he quickly slid it down, when she noticed what he was doing she was helping him remove the piece of clothing. Lifting her body so he could pull it from underneath her and for a second she pressed against his groin. He let out a growl at the touch and she seemed satisfied at his response.

This was already taking long enough, he needed to have her around him now. He didn't have much time and he wasn't going to waste it on foreplay. He took a condom out of his pocket and gave it to her while he unbuckled his belt. When he moved to his pants he was stopped by her hands.

"Allow me," she said with a coy smile that was probably supposed to be sexy but it was the last thing he needed to see. Still he wouldn't refuse the girl if she wanted to undress him.

When he felt her hand press against his groin he pressed closer but she quickly pulled back, only enough to open up his pants and allowed him to push it down. She rolled on the condom when she noticed he was already ready to go. Well what could he say, there was something about planning to have his way with several women today that didn't make it hard to get hard.

Without wasting any more time he pushed his member inside her, growling at the feeling of her warmth around him. He laid her down on the table while he pushed inside her, gaining speed when he noticed how her moans got louder and louder until he was sure that even Kol could hear from wherever he had hidden himself. He was glad he took this interview to the emptiest floor. Most rooms were used for meetings here and they weren't many scheduled today. None at this side of the floor so he should be fine.

Still he tried to drown out her noises and exited her completely before he pushed back in, she arched her back, allowing him to get deeper and he felt himself getting closer with every movement. He didn't bother to pleasure the girl any extra, besides it sounded like she was enjoying herself plenty and when he came inside her he finally looked down again.

He pulled out of her and threw away the condom, she still laid on the table, looking completely satisfied and he couldn't help the cocky smirk on his face. He hadn't noticed that she had came, but from that expression it hadn't been bad for either of them. He put back his boxer and pants and she seemed to get his intentions.

She jumped of the table, grabbing her skirt from the floor and put it back on her body. She turned towards him, silently asking him to zip her up and he did so. When they were both presentable she turned towards him.

"Well Mr. Mikaelson, I do hope to hear from you again." With those last words she turned around and left the office. She might hope to hear from him, but he definitely hoped to never have to hear from her again. He had done his part, now on to the next girl.

A little after noon Kol had requested him for lunch. He wanted to congratulate him with his winning streak and hear some details as well. That and they needed to discuss the girl that would come by in about an hour.

"Okay so you had Kirstin this morning, Alexis after that and I just saw Lilly leave and I have to admit those marks in their necks was a nice touch, makes my job easier."

Klaus let out a laugh at that, "And here I thought you always prided yourself at knowing when people got laid."

Kol chose to ignore him and continued his questioning, "So I've heard enough of Kirstin, man that girl was loud, but Alexis and Lilly were a tad more careful. Couldn't satisfy them brother?"

"I assure you, they were plenty satisfied. Those last two where just different types than the first one. Kirstin you said? She made the first move, but the other two needed more coaxing. Ugh that last girl was just crying over her boyfriend dumping her last night after I told her to tell me something personal."

"Lilly got dumped? Damn that must be his loss, she was bloody gorgeous."

Klaus raised his eyebrow at Kol's reaction but let it go, "All she needed was the idea of a rebound to get back at her ex and she wasn't that difficult. But if you're interested in her, I'm sure you kept her number. I must say, she was sensational," he drawled his words, seeking a rise from Kol but was disappointed when he barely reacted.

"What about Alexis? The one that had experience at Mikaelson Global?" Kol questioned.

Klaus sheepishly scratched his head. "Well we might have some history, I remember her from some benefit party a few years ago and she shamelessly made a couple of moves on me. Thankfully my date managed to get rid of her."

Kol grew silent at that, "Sorry, I should have checked that first."

Klaus shrugged, "It's alright, when she knew I was single again she wasn't hard to persuade."

"Yeah but you didn't need the reminder of-"

Klaus cut him off, "Don't even start Kol, it was nothing and I don't want to talk about it. Now what can you tell me about the next girl?"

"Caroline Forbes, she was a tricky one. Elijah almost didn't included her," Kol said while he looked through his folder for his information.

"Why is that?" Klaus wondered, not that he really cared but Elijah wasn't one to change his mind that easy.

"Well she's qualified all right, she organized a lot of events in her hometown and has led almost any club that town can have. She was assistant to the mayor for almost five years until last month."

"That seems better than some of the other things I heard today... why did Elijah wanted to exclude her?" It started to sound odd to Klaus and this was the first time today he was actually interested in a candidates story. Why would Elijah doubt this girl?

"Well her reference was her old employer but Elijah received an email very quickly that the mayor was quite unsatisfied with Miss Forbes. Apparently she is quite unreliable."

"So if she's unreliable, then why would the mayor keep her hired for such a long time?" Klaus questioned and Kol shrugged in reply.

"I have no idea but apparently Elijah couldn't ignore the resume and he liked her letter. I guess he's willing to give her a chance to at least prove herself."

"Do you have a photo?" Klaus asked and Kol quickly grabbed something out of his folder.

"She was hard to get a hold on, no Facebook or other kinds of social media but luckily her name was linked to some of her past projects. I found a picture in some local newspaper."

The photo Klaus received was from a blonde girl with blue eyes, her straight hair reached just over her shoulders and he could definitely appreciate the gold dress that she was wearing. She did look familiar but he couldn't place her face at the moment. Maybe she was just someone that he had noticed in a bar or something like that. He didn't know her though, he would remember someone like her if he did. "Well when will she be here?" Klaus questioned and Kol looked at his watch.

"She should be here in half an hour, I'm going to check on our sister in the meantime," Kol handed him his folder, "You can read more over Miss Forbes if you would like." Klaus placed the folder next to him but paid it no attention, Kol just rolled his eyes and made his leave.

* * *

Caroline walked her way over to the building of Mikaelson Global, she took a moment to check her appearance at a large window and quickly fixed a curl that had fallen out of her bun. She was wearing the burgundy red dress that Katherine had given her and she hated that she loved it.

Katherine had put rules on the dress, of course she would have. She needed to wear it to her first interview, something she feared. The dress just reached over mid thigh and she didn't want to ruin this interview because she was dressed inappropriately. Katherine had assured her she saw this on business woman in her bar all the time, even Elijah had chimed in that it wasn't such a big deal but still Caroline had worried.

Katherine's second rule had been to give everyone that hit on her at least a three minute chance and her last had been to dress more like her. Or as Katherine had meant, not exactly like her but like old Caroline. She had been offended by the rule at first but she could see where it came from, all Katherine had tried to achieve by these rules was to get the old Caroline back, the one that was still trying to come out in the new town.

It just seemed like a part of her hadn't been able to leave Mystic Falls, but Katherine was right. To make it in New York she had to be old Caroline, fierce, confident and sure of what she could be and do. She took a deep breathe and entered the building, hoping that she was ready for her first interview in New York.

* * *

**So very little Caroline, I hope next chapter will make it for it because they will finally really meet!**

**Till next time and please tell me if you have any thoughts about this story, questions, things you would like to see happen next, anything at all!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Okay wow thank you, last chapter got a bit of a response all mostly about Caroline's bad reference from Carol and about Klaus and Caroline's interview. Well that will finally happen. This chapter. Almost a whole chapter solely Klaroline :) I hope you enjoy it!**

**Warning: This story was M-rated for a reason, there is sexual content in this chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

Caroline entered the building, looking around for the reception when she entered the hall. The Mr. Mikaelson that she had spoken on the phone had told her to sign in there, she would get instructions there. She let out a breath of air, they couldn't have just told her where she had to go? Fortunately the reception wasn't hard to miss in the open entrance. A large counter that she would have to pass to get to the elevators, well this building might be large, at least they weren't leading her to impossible to find places.

Reception... check. Channeling old Caroline, making use of the confidence that she always managed to show she walked over to the reception. The woman behind the desk was on the phone and Caroline waited patiently behind it, she had tried catching her attention but all she got was a raised finger, signaling that she needed a minute.

Just her luck... Caroline looked at the clock on the wall and when a minute has passed she turned back towards the receptionist who still seemed very invested in her phone call. She had five minutes until her interview. She wasn't going to get late because someone refused to help her. She would give her another minute, but she could feel herself growing impatient.

When she caught pieced of the conversation her annoyance grew, this wasn't some business call. At least she hoped so because she doubted that a receptionist would complain about how her son had gotten a C for math this week. Get over it, not all kids are great at Math, now do you damn job! Caroline was mentally screaming at the woman.

"Hello? Can you help me?" she called over at the woman and was again silenced by that stupid hand. "I really don't have time for this..." she muttered.

When she still didn't get a reaction she leaned over the counter, lifting herself on top of it to get a better sight of the phone. When she noticed the button she needed she pressed it and raised her eyes to meet those of the receptionist. "What do you think you're doing!?" she hissed at Caroline and Caroline shrugged in response.

"What you should have done about five minutes ago. Don't worry I didn't hang up on whoever you were complaining to, you can continue as soon as I leave. Mr. Mikaelson just told me to get instructions at the front desk. Seeing as you're the only one here..." The receptionist seemed to pale when she realized that Caroline was send here by her boss and ignored her phone that was still blinking with the red light from the call in wait.

"Right, sorry for letting you wait. This is supposed to be my lunch break but my colleague called in sick so I can't leave here. What was it that you needed?" A lot of people seemed to get sick these days, Caroline sure hoped it wasn't contagious.

"I need to know where the interviews with Mr. Mikaelson are held, I'm Caroline Forbes, I'm supposed to meet him at-," she paused and looked at the clock to verify the time, "Well now," she said and caught the sheepish expression of the woman. Well at least she felt guilty, Caroline felt bad that she hadn't gotten her break so did it here, but that didn't change the fact that she could have at least heard Caroline out in between.

After a few clicks and ticks on the computer the receptionist, Audrey she discovered when she noticed her name tag, got the schedule. "Okay you take the elevator at the right side," she pointed out which on, "And take it to the second floor. You enter the first hallway on your left side and when you walk past the first four doors there will be a waiting area, just take place there and when Mr. Mikaelson is ready he will call you in."

Caroline thanked the woman and raced to the elevator, she doubted she would have to take place, most likely Mr. Mikaelson was already waiting for her. She was not making a good impression, not at all.

The whole elevator ride over, those whole twenty seconds, she kept checking her watch wishing that the time would stop moving. Five minutes late... it wasn't tragic but she had planned to be that time early, definitely not late. Well she had to suck it up and work that much harder on her first impression.

The elevator came to a stop and she took that last second to check her appearance in the mirror. She looked fine, confident and ready to take it on. If only she could feel like that as well. She walked strode into the hallway, she recited the instructions in her head and quickly turned to the left side, she kept walking until she found the waiting area but as she had expected there would be no time to wait.

She was halted by a blond haired man looking at his watch, when he noticed her arriving he gave her a once over and opened the door at his right side. "Miss Forbes, you're late."

Caroline winced, she knew it would be noticed but still she hated the disadvantage. "Yes I'm sorry, I ran into some trouble downstairs, it seemed like you're a receptionist short today and the woman was swamped in work. I didn't want to disturb her from her work, so I had to wait until she finished her call." She didn't want to drag Audrey in this so she stayed quiet about how the call was personal.

Next she took a gamble but she could still see doubt on Mr. Mikaelson's face. "I'm sure you can call her, she felt awful when she realized why I was here, it wasn't her fault in any means. She was just doing her job. It was just very unfortunate," Caroline finished it with a small smile and Klaus decided to let it go.

Whether she spoke the truth or not, it didn't matter but she sounded pretty convincing, he still couldn't shake the feeling that he'd seen her before but when he tried to remember from what he came up blank.

He gestured at the chair that Caroline could sit in and she quickly moved over to it. While she walked in front of him he could appreciate the view. He had of course noticed her dress and he had been glad to not see another black, grey combination. They were boring him to death, add to that the way this dress were hugging her curves and he could honestly say that he couldn't wait until he got her out of it.

Meanwhile Caroline was taking place and looked at Klaus, she was surprised to realize that the CEO of this mayor company only seemed to be a few years older than him but as she studied his face she realized that she had seen him before. "You were at Trevor's last night!" she exclaimed and when she caught his confused face she continued, "The bar."

Klaus nodded and finally realized where he knew here from. "You were the girl who's boyfriend got a bit too handsy," he stated an his eyes widened when he realized that this would mess with his winning streak. No matter how undeserving of her presence this boyfriend was, he couldn't make the girl cheat on her boyfriend. Not now that he knew she had one, he didn't wish that feeling on anyone.

She rolled her eyes and actually laughed at his memory of her. "Not my boyfriend, definitely not my boyfriend," she stated an extra time and was it just her or had she seen relief cross over his face?

"Ex-boyfriend then?" he offered glad to know that the girl had enough sense to break it of with anyone who treated her like that, he wished everyone had that common sense. Again he was responded with a shake of the head. "Then what was he?" He shouldn't care about this but for some reason he actually wanted to know. This is why he shouldn't get involved in these sort of things.

"Ugh," she made a face while she thought about him, "He was just some ass that assumed that just because he gave me a beer earlier, he could take me home." When she said it out loud she remembered why that had been stopped, she knew that she could have gotten out on her own since her mother had forced her to take self-defense classes when she was younger, but she was glad that she hadn't had to use those first. She hadn't used them in a long time and was glad for his help. "That reminds me, you left before I could thank you."

"You're welcome sweetheart," he said and felt uncomfortable under her gaze. He wasn't used to people thanking him for anything and he wasn't expecting it from a stranger either.

"Wait Elijah told me that his brother was the one that helped me," she paused, "You're Elijah's brother." It wasn't a question but Klaus nodded non the less. She just nodded in realization, not sure what to make of that information, it didn't change anything it was just a surprise.

"So you know my brother?" Klaus wondered how they knew each other, had this been why he gave her a change? What exactly was there relation?

Caroline laughed at that, "Well he and my best friend seemed to enjoy talking to each other so I met him yesterday when he was at Trevor's."

He was glad to hear that she didn't seem to be in any way involved with Elijah, that would make this much easier. Caroline however seemed to realize where they had been spending her time with and changed the topic. "Shouldn't we be holding the interview instead of talking about my social life?"

"I thought we were already holding it?" Klaus replied, he had liked this more than having to ask some questions that would give him answers that he couldn't care less about.

"I don't know if what you've seen from last night is the best way to get to know me as a possible assistant."

"Well you would be in charge of my business, but also personal business. If you get to know all those of mine, shouldn't I know a little about you as well?" Klaus asked and Caroline couldn't come up with an argument as to why he was wrong.

Taking her silence as consent he asked a question that has been playing his mind since she reminded him of Trevor's. "So you don't have a boyfriend?"

Caroline hesitated with answering, still not used to her answer. "No, I don't have one. Is that important?" she answered and Klaus had to smile at her response.

"No of course it isn't. Just curiosity."

"So what about you?" she asked genuinely curious.

"What about me?" he asked confused about her question.

She let out a clear laugh and when she noticed his astounded expression she stopped. "Sorry, that was unprofessional, I just meant to return the question. Do you have a girlfriend?"

Klaus grew uncomfortable under her question, he hadn't had any of the candidates ask him questions, especially not personal ones and this wasn't a subject he was comfortable with either. "No," it was the shortest answer he could come up with but he could read from her face that she wanted to add a follow up question. Instead he leaned forward and asked one to her.

"So what is a small town girl doing in New York?"

Her eyes grew a bit sad and Klaus put that away for later, "Let's just say things in Mystic Falls didn't play out like I thought they would." It was a cryptic answer but the most Caroline could give away without breaking into her stupid pity story that she didn't want to share.

"You sound like you need a distraction," Klaus deducted and his eyes started to sparkle when an idea started to form in his head.

Caroline shook her head, "I sound like I need a job, which I do."

Klaus laughed at her blunt response. "Well that's why we're here for, now I was talking about that distraction."

She rolled her eyes at his persistence, this interview wasn't going how she was expecting it at all but she couldn't say she disliked it. The pressure was off and she felt like she could just act like herself, not have to present some perfect fake version. "And what was it that you would propose as a distraction?" she leaned forward, resting her elbows on her legs and suddenly was happy when she realized her dress was closed to the neck. Otherwise she would be giving him quite the few right now.

Klaus walked over to Caroline and leaned over from behind her, trying to grab the file that laid in front of her. His face passed her closely and he paused for a moment, trying to gauze her reaction. Her eyes widened and he could hear her breathing speed up but she wasn't trying to move out of his way. Slowly he walked back towards his own chair, bringing it over next to her.

Caroline cursed herself about the fact that she got affected by his presence so nearby but was relieved when he moved again. Still, when he moved his chair to sit next to her, she wasn't complaining either.

Klaus opened the folder, revealing the content to her. He wasn't sure why he was showing it to her but he had been carrying it with him and he was determined to give her that distraction that she needed.

She looked down at several art concepts to what seemed to be a Gala. "What's this?" she wondered while she looked at the different pages and concepts.

"It's something that's been bothering me," he confessed to her and he tried to avoid her concerned gaze.

"Why?" she asked, this time she was curious. Curious about why he was showing this to her and what was bothering him about these concepts.

"It's supposed to be a gala at the Museum on Natural History. It's where we meet a lot of investors and it's something we organize once a year. It's just that none of these concepts the marketing department came up with seem to fit."

Caroline gave them another look and noticed how they all seemed very cold, there wasn't a personal touch or anything that gave it that spark, some warmth. Nothing from Mikaelson Global but also not from the museum. "It's not personal," she muttered.

"What was that sweetheart?" Klaus asked when he caught her words. She had been right, that was exactly the thing that he didn't manage to put in words.

"It's just... They're nice but you're trying to get investors, I'm guessing the museum gets something out of it as well?" she asked and when Klaus nodded she continued, "Well this could have been some add for anything, it doesn't really gets me... invested. And that's exactly what you want, you need something personal."

Klaus looked at the blonde with a stunned expression. How had she all deduced that from only one look at these pictures without any knowledge of him.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her closer to him, she moved without question too surprised to react. "You're right," he whispered while he leaned forward a bit more, "How did you know that?"

Caroline shrugged, "It's not something you know, you feel it. Those pictures seemed... cold." Her body was mirroring his, instinctively leaning forward as well and she was stunned to notice that their faces where only a few inches apart.

"Well thank you," he breathed out and he gave her a chaste kiss on her cheek. When she didn't pull back he moved his lips towards hers. He hadn't forgotten the bet. It was still on his mind, he just hadn't expected to enjoy talking to this strange woman as well.

When their lips met Caroline's eyes widened and for a moment she became as still as a statue, then she felt his lips move over hers and she reacted as well. He was bringing a part of her above that she thought she had lost.

When Klaus could feel her responding to his touch he wrapped his arms around hers, his hands moving towards her hair were the neat bun was placed. He suddenly felt a need to see this woman with her hair freed around her, he pulled out the band and was pleased with the blonde curls that surrounded her face. For a moment he broke the kiss to see the sight of her with that dazed expression and her lips parted. He made a mental picture and moved back in for another kiss.

Caroline found herself enjoying the kiss more than she expected, she could feel his hands working behind her head but it wasn't until he pulled back that she realized he had released her hair from the bun. Her hand raised up to shove it behind her shoulder but when their lips touched again he stopped the movement.

He was standing up and pulled her up with him, making sure that they lips stayed glued together. She could feel him trying to get her to open her mouth and she playfully tugged on his bottom lip which resulted in a sinfully groan from his lips. Her mouth opened in reaction and she quickly felt his tongue enter as well. She playfully tried to avoid him at first and every time she did she could feel Klaus direct her a step back.

With a thud she could feel her back being pushed against a wall and in her surprise Klaus tongue finally met hers. She could feel his hands move around her legs and he was already lifting the hem of her skirt. She allowed herself to kiss him for a few more seconds until she changed the position that she was in.

Klaus could feel himself getting lost in her kiss and he realized that she was the first candidate that he had bothered kissing, all the other girls he had just fucked. What was it that made her different? He blamed it on the fact that she had been so difficult to read, he had to take more time with her, tread careful.

He tried to lift her skirt a bit, exposing more of her legs and he let his hands roam over her skin. She felt good under his hands and he couldn't wait to feel her around him, suddenly he was stopped by his hands and he looked at her in confusion. She ignored his look and led her hand to his pants, opening it with ease and letting it fall to his knees.

Klaus wasn't complaining about the turn of events, especially when he felt her wrap her hands around his shaft. He bit back a moan when he started her movement and she chuckled against his lips. She moved her hand against him in a painfully slow pace. Occasionally he could feel her add some pressure and soon he could feel himself growing shorter of breath and building inside.

"Sweetheart," he moaned out while she unbuttoned the top buttons of his shirt.

"Mmm," she mused, trying to get him to continue but at the same time she twisted her wrist resulting in another moan from Klaus. She started trailing some kissed on his chest and hid a smile when she heard his ragged breath.

"If you continue like this, I-" he paused and let out another moan, "I'm not going to last much longer."

Caroline smiled at those words and trailed a path of kissed from his chest to his neck while she continued stroking him, letting her thumb graze his head. She heard the hiss that he let out and knew he was close. "You started this," she breathed out when she reached his ear. She gave his earlobe a small tug with her teeth and she could hear from his breathing and the sounds he was making that he was painfully close now, "You can finish this well."

With that she turned around and left the office. She couldn't believe that she had just done that but if he had thought her to just be some insolent girl that he could fuck in his office then he was mistaken.

She got out of the hallway, walking by a man in the waiting area and when she looked in the mirror she was shocked with the sight. She looked absolutely ravished, her hair was messy on all sides, bunched up and clearly pulled at in times. Her lips were swollen and red and, crap... her skirt was still bunched up a bit. She quickly lowered it, covering herself up and looked for her rubber band, anything to get her hair fixed again. Unfortunately she realized she didn't had to and that she had to walk through the entrance like this. She let her head fall against the elevator wall while the door closed. She was so stupid!

* * *

Klaus had barely registered her words so close to his release, not until he felt the loss of her touch he opened his eyes and realized that she had left. He played back her words. "You started this, you can finish this as well." He couldn't believed that she had left him here but she had been right in one thing, he would definitely finish this. He was too close to let it go now. He wrapped his own hand around his member and after three short strokes he got his release, a certain blonde still on his mind. "I want her," he whispered he pulled his pants back up and walked back and let his body fall down on the chair.

Kol entered the room and found him laying on the chair like that, three minutes later. "The bet's off, hire her," he instructed him and ignored Kol's expression. He would explain later, but now he needed to rest, he turned around and noticed the open file, the pictures still laying on the table. He grabbed the closest one and turned it around, he looked around for a pencil but noticed a pen instead. He shrugged. It would have to do, he grabbed the pen and started sketching on the backside of the paper.

* * *

**Well that was the interview. I had such a clear idea in my mind but then the beginning turned out so different and this is what I turned up with. I hope Caroline didn't turn out to OOC, it's just like when she thought that the kiss was bringing an old part of her back... Well meet a part of old Caroline :P**

**No seriously I hope you enjoyed this chapter and we'll still continue. I hope I get the next chapter finished in a day of two again.**

**We have had them meet so I hope this doesn't mean I lose you all :( Just because they met doesn't mean it's over.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Wow you sure all now how to make a girl feel special, I know you guys were anticipating the meeting but that last chapter got 20 reviews and thank you for everyone who read it! If you left a review and I forgot to thank you, I'm sorry! I appreciated every single on of you and I hadn't expected that response. I even reached over the 50 reviews, which was** _WeasleysGroupie._** Review number 50 got a sneak peek or a question (just like 25, 75, 100 etc.) and got the sneak peek.**

**Now here is the next chapter. A whole lot less Klaroline as the last but it has to happen. The Aftermath.**

* * *

**Chapter 8**

Kol entered the room again, Klaus was still hunched over the piece of paper trying to create something and even though he actually managed to create something he was still unhappy. He needed something else, inspiration, because how could he make something if he didn't even know what it was that he was trying to create in the first place? That girl seemed to know, Caroline. She had managed to put into words what he couldn't.

"We're not calling of the bet," Kol said while he sat down next to him. It was about the third time Kol came back to share that with him after Caroline left but Klaus kept ignoring him. It wasn't until Kol grabbed his pen that he turned towards his brother.

"And why would that be?" he said, ignoring Kol's pleased grin when he reacted.

"We made a bet, you might be winning but there must be someone out there that will reject you and we're going to find her... Cause I really want your car." Klaus froze at that, Kol seemed to believe that he was winning, that meant that he hadn't guessed that Caroline walked out of him... He recalled how she had looked, her hair mused, lips swollen... No of course Kol would have assumed that he had had her. But he hadn't. Should he tell Kol and lose the bet, or use this in his advantage...

"It doesn't matter. I was looking for a personal assistant and now I found her, it's over."

"She was that good brother? I mean she did look ravishing but I wouldn't expected you to call of the bet for her," Kol looked at him sceptically, what made this girl so special that Klaus wanted to hire her. Kol knew that Klaus hadn't been actually paying attention to anything that these girls said so it couldn't be her requirements...

Klaus ignored him again, not wanting to say anything about what had happened with Caroline. "Brother it's over, if you made appointments for tomorrow cancel them, I will even let you out of your part of the deal if that's what it takes. But I'm not going to waste my time holding anymore interviews."

Kol contemplated his offer for a moment and Klaus knew he would take it because if Klaus wanted he could demand Kol to keep his part of the deal... And a part of him wanted Kol to have to drive him around for some time, it would teach him a lesson, but it wouldn't be fair. Klaus had lost, he just wasn't going to put it out there.

"Fine, whatever bet's off. See if I care. But I'm not calling that girl, if you want to hire her so much, you call her." With that Kol turned around leaving Klaus behind in the office. Klaus hadn't expected to get away with it so easily, the bet was off... He kept his car, and Kol held his dignity, it was a fair trade. Now he just had to call the girl to inform her about her new job. He wanted to have her close by because who knows, maybe next time they were alone she could finish him off.

* * *

Before Caroline walked through the entrance she made a short stop in the bathrooms. She had thrown some water in her face and had looked around for something to tie her hair back, anything to bind the out of control mess that was currently framing her face. She had searched her purse and came up empty, she did found a comb and tried to at least make it look like the mess was on purpose. When she checked before leaving she still looked like she was doing a walk of shame, just less shameful.

She couldn't believe how big of an idiot she had been, to give in like that was so unlike her. Sure she had solved it nicely, leaving him on the edge but this had been a job interview not some night in a club. Ugh this guy was supposed to be her possible future boss and she had just ruined every possible change that she could possibly have. She was so stupid!

How could she have done that... sure he was hot but that didn't mean that she would have to let him kiss her. She could have stopped him at any time, why did she chose not to? She came up blank. It must have been because it had been a while after Tyler, she was just in a little funk and when her body got some attention it reacted. Sure, that must be it.

The whole way back she was freaking out over what had happened, over-thinking every aspect but one thing remained the same, she knew there was no way she would possibly be hired now. Then she got another thought that got her paranoid. What if he told anyone? What if this got out, this could totally ruin any other chance on a job.

This was all Katherine's fault, he fault for pointing out that she wasn't acting like the old Caroline, well now she had acted like old-Caroline and it had ruined any chance of her job. She had looked like a fool and she was sure that Audrey had seen her walk away so at least one person would make assumptions about her leave. She could never show her face there again, well luckily she wouldn't need to.

"Breathe Caroline," she muttered under her breath, she thought she had her freak-outs under control. That she had gotten rid of them in High School but apparently they could still come out and she had to admit, she was freaking out a bit. Not about what she did so much, sure she was embarrassed about that but it's not like she had done anything she hadn't done before... well that wasn't true, she had never left a guy hanging like that. It was cruel, but he did deserve that, how dared he trying to take advantage of her like that.

Her insecurity passed and made place for anger. He had no right to make a move on her, sure she shouldn't have reacted but like she had said, he had started this. She was there to get a job, not laid. How unprofessional of Mr. Mikaelson to even dare make a move on her. Suddenly she wondered if this had been what he had been doing those other interviews as well. If that was the case, well she suddenly didn't feel bad about leaving him like that. He deserved it.

She just wanted to forget that this whole "interview" happened and if she would never hear the name Mikaelson again it would be too soon. Suddenly she jolted to a stop, a man walking behind her bumped in her back and she apologized before continuing walking. Elijah, Klaus was Elijah's brother. Well it didn't mean anything, sure Elijah seemed to be interested in Katherine but who said it was serious... and it's not like that had anything to do with her.

She reached her house and got in, closing the door behind her and ignoring Katherine who seemed to be waiting on her on the sofa. When Katherine noticed her walking in her eyes snapped immediately towards her and she wanted to rise from the sofa but before she could Caroline ran past her, entered her bedroom and let herself fall down on her bed. She needed a distraction but she knew Katherine would want to know everything. Well she wasn't going to tell, that's for sure.

Unfortunately it had seemed like Katherine hadn't received that message because after a few minutes she entered her room with in both hands a steaming cup. Well at least she came bearing gifts. "I brought you hot chocolate, from your dramatic entrance I gather the interview went bad?" Katherine asked well she sat down next to Caroline.

Caroline nodded and accepted the cup. "There's no way they're going to hire me," she said honestly.

"Don't be so pessimistic Care, why shouldn't they hire you. You're awesome."

"I just ruined it. It's all your fault! If you didn't told me to act more like old Caroline nothing would have happened," she crossed her arms and huffed at Katherine.

Katherine shook it off, familiar with her moods. "You can't blame me for acting like old Caroline, old Caroline is just as much you as this stoically new Caroline. Actually it's a lot more you. But now I'm curious... How exactly did you acted like the old you? Because if memory serves me right... you had some great moments."

She realized her mistake that moment, of course blaming Katherine wouldn't help at all. It would only put her friends focus on her that much more. She still tried to wave it off, "It was nothing, it's just that my interview was with someone that I shortly met yesterday..."

Katherine raised her eyebrow at her, "You mean in the bar? Was he hot?"

Caroline wanted to say yes to both of them but could stop herself before she blurted that out. "Yes, but not like you think. I told you about that creep last night right?"

Katherine's eyes widened and she looked positively frightful in that moment. "Caroline. Please tell me that your interview was not with that creep of yesterday!"

"No, no, no. Don't worry it wasn't him," she rushed out trying to calm Katherine before she would go to Mikaelson Global to tear him a new one. "That's not what I meant. It's the opposite actually," at that Katherine seemed to calm down, "I told you about the guy that helped me and then left. Well I did got a look at him and apparently he is the CEO of Mikaelson Global. I recognized him during the interview."

"Oh, well that's not too bad..." Katherine said, unsure how this would get Caroline this upset, she ran back over Caroline's words and remembered, "What does that have to do with acting like old Caroline?"

"That's, that's not important." Caroline hoped that Katherine would let it rest but knew better, luckily she got disturbed by the ringing of the phone.

Katherine moved away from her bed and kept her eyes locked on Caroline's. "This isn't over," she said while she moved out of Caroline's room, ready to grab the phone.

"I know it isn't..." Caroline murmured, Katherine would want to know the truth and if Katherine wanted something, it was impossible to get her mind of it.

* * *

Klaus had moved back into his own office, his desk filled by numeral sketches, all crumbled up. He had been ecstatic to realize that he could get something on paper again and he had managed to draw some generic sketches but nothing new. They were just copies of things he had seen and that wouldn't do. He had tried to come up with a concept and he still came up blank, he would ask Caroline when she came in for work, maybe she had an idea.

Klaus froze at the though, he hadn't wanted to consult someone about his decisions and here he was willingly asking for someone's help that as far as he knew loathed him. Why else would she leave?

Well she did say she needed a job, and here he was offering one to her. Well he hadn't actually offered it yet, for that he would have to call her first. He hadn't realized that until Kol had left that he actually had no way to contact the girl. Kol had made his appointments and he doubted Kol would help him out if he asked.

He realized he had another option, another brother. Elijah would help him if he explained why, he just hoped that he could as well. He dialed his brother's number and as always Elijah was quick to answer.

"Elijah, I need your help. Do you have the number of that girl you were talking with yesterday?"

"Katherine?" Elijah sounded confused and on his guard, Klaus disregarded it though, he was in no way interested in whoever this Katherine girl was.

"No not her, Caroline. The blonde girl."

"Oh Caroline, what do you need her number for brother?" Elijah asked and Klaus got annoyed at the trouble he was giving him.

"Can't you just give me her number?" Klaus asked him again.

"Not before you tell me why you need it, if you had wanted it yesterday I'm sure you could have asked her after you helped her out. That reminds me, she asked me to thank you."

"Yeah I know. She did that already when I spoke to her earlier today."

"You've spoken to her today?" Elijah sounded surprised at that, well Klaus hadn't expected it as well. He wanted to add that they had done more than speak but he doubted he would get her number if he played it that way.

"Yes I interviewed her for the assistant position. I wanted to hire her but Kol seemed to have forgotten to leave me with her number. I was hoping you had it."

"You want to hire her, I hadn't expected you to find someone suitable this soon," Elijah said and Klaus rolled his eyes.

"Neither had I, but she's qualified and seemed very... suitable. You've spoken to her yesterday, wouldn't you agree?" Now if only Elijah would give him that damn number.

"Yes I believe she would be," Elijah answered, "I'm afraid that I don't possess her number though." Klaus cursed at that, he had expected Elijah to be able to help him out.

"You couldn't have told me that at the beginning of this conversation?" he asked Elijah, this had been a total waste of time. He was no closer to getting in contact with Caroline now as he was before he called Elijah.

"Well I might have the number of someone that can help you out. I have the number of her friend. She might help you out."

"Thank you brother!" Klaus quickly noted the number that Elijah was reciting and when he ended the call he looked at it for another second. Hopefully this Katherine could help him out. He dialed the number and waited.

Four rings before he heard the phone being answered, "Katherine Pierce," a voice answered.

"This is Klaus Mikaelson, I'm looking for Caroline Forbes, my brother told me that you could help me reach her..."

Klaus was interrupted by a loud yell from Katherine, "Caroline! It's for you."

* * *

"Caroline it's for you!" Katherine yelled at her and she forced herself out of her bed. Katherine pushed the phone in her hand without saying who she had on the phone, she sat down on the sofa, keeping her eyes on Caroline and she wondered what that was about.

"Hello, with Caroline," she spoke in the phone unsure of who it could be.

"Caroline, I'm glad that I managed to reach you. I wanted to make you an offer," Klaus spoke through the phone and she looked at it for a moment confused.

"Uhm who's this..." she said, the voice sounded familiar but she couldn't place it. It didn't sound like anybody that she really knew.

"Klaus Mikaelson," she paled at that, she hadn't expected to hear from this man ever again, especially not this soon again.

"Mr. Mikaelson, what can I do for you?" he let out a laugh at her words, he could come up with some suggestions but he doubted that she wanted to hear those.

"It's about the interview actually," he enjoyed the sound of her breath hitching when he spoke those words, clearly the events of what had happened where still on her mind.

"Look whatever happened during that interview, we never have to speak of that again," she ignored Katherine's eyes on her, she could just hear the girl's brain coming to conclusions.

"It's not about that sweetheart. Besides we don't have to speak about any of that, I prefer actions above words anyway," he let out a small chuckle at that, "I wanted to offer you the position."

"The position..." Caroline was silent at that, "You mean the job. You want me to be your personal assistant?"

"What else would I mean?" he said innocently and a smile crept on his face. "Yes I want you to be my personal assistant. You start tomorrow at eight, we can look over your contract then." Klaus was ready to hang up, having said all that he needed to when he was interrupted by her voice.

"No."

"No?" he said surprised, he hadn't considered the possibility that she would refuse his offer. "I don't think I understand."

"I said no, I'm not accepting your job offer. What's so difficult to understand about that?" Caroline asked him.

"I remember you telling me that you needed a job sweetheart. Isn't that why you applied for the job in the first place?" Klaus couldn't place the girl, why would she refuse him now.

"Oh I want the job-" Caroline started but was interrupted by Klaus.

"See than there's no problem. You want the job, you got it."

"You didn't let me finish!" Caroline yelled at him.

Klaus smirked at the phone, "Well I guess that makes both of us sweetheart, but I'm willing to ignore that. Now what was it that you were trying to say."

Caroline became flustered at his words, she hadn't expected him to bring it up just like that and she sure as hell hadn't expected to give him the perfect opening for that. "What I was trying to say," she tried it again, "I want the job, I just don't want the boss. So I'm refusing your offer!" she canceled the call, not wanting to hear anymore of the insufferably man.

Klaus looked stunned, he hadn't expected her to refuse his offer and he hadn't expected her to hang up on him either. She had refused... what could he do about that? He tried to dial her number again but there was no answer, there was no answer the three times after that either. Caroline Forbes had rejected him, no one ever rejected him.

* * *

**So that happened, don't worry they will run in to each other again and it's far from over... I just didn't want Caroline to just take the job after what had happened. Even though she needed it, I don't believe she would have taken it after.**

**So please tell me what you think! What do you really want to see happen in the future and what will Katherine think? She did listen to that whole conversation :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Okay so again thank you for the reviews! These past two chapters have got as many reviews as the previous six together so I'm a bit overwhelmed by that. I'm glad you guys are enjoying this story and I'm trying to keep the updates going this fast, the reviews, followers and favorites are a great motivation, not going to lie :)**

**I'm glad that everyone seemed to be happy that Caroline refused the job, it just didn't seem like her to give in that easily and I'm glad that seemed to be a shared opinion. Don't worry there will be more about this later.**

**Well the last chapter I reached my 50th review, this chapter I passed the 75! Thank you **_Ela marelica _**for being the 75th reviewer! She got her gift for that and now here is my 'gift' for all of you. A new chapter!**

**This chapter is for**_ ReadingLove13._** Congratulations on your beautiful little girl!  
****She also has some great Klaroline stories that you should check out, especially if you love mysteries because my head hurts from figuring her things out :) **

* * *

**Chapter 9**

"_What I was trying to say," she tried it again, "I want the job, I just don't want the boss. So I'm refusing your offer!" she canceled the call, not wanting to hear anymore of the insufferably man. _

She was highly aware of Katherine's eyes on her back while she returned the phone. She could feel them burning with questions, questions that Caroline didn't want to answer. Still... if there was a way to stop Katherine when she had her mind on something, it hadn't been invented yet.

The only solution that Caroline knew was giving in to her, but that wasn't what she wanted either. So she went for the second best option, "Whatever you think you just heard it wasn't what you're thinking," Caroline said to Katherine trying to sound as convincing as she could. If all fails. Denial.

"So you didn't just rejected a job offer for the job you really wanted to have? Oh and you also didn't just tell the CEO of that company that he's the reason that you aren't taking the job?" Katherine asked and repositioned herself on the sofa, eyes narrowed and taking in every reaction of Caroline.

"Well yes but," Caroline halted, what could she possibly say to defend herself? That he was an ass? Katherine knew her well enough that that wouldn't stop her from taking a job..."

"But?" Katherine asked, "Come on, I really want to hear this excuse you're going to come up with!"

She was offended at the implication even though that was exactly what she was doing, "I'm not trying to make up any excuse... I'm just," she still couldn't come up with anything remotely believable. Not that the real story sounded normal either...

"You just? Come on Caroline spit it out. What happened? Do I need to hit someone?"

Caroline let out a laugh at that, "No it's fine, I took care of it myself."

"So she does give away information!" Katherine smiled and Caroline couldn't believe she had let that slip. "Now why did you need to take care of yourself?"

"Okay so it's totally possible that Mr. Mikaelson kissed me and I didn't exactly pull back from it, I mean sure he was hot and it had been a while but it was totally stupid and then we got carried away and I realized what I was doing and I'm not that girl anymore. I'm not getting used by anyone so when he tried to take it further I may or may not have given him a hand job and left when he was on the edge, telling him that since he started it, he could finish it as well," Claroline blurted it all out in a rant and was bright red at the end when she thought back to the way that he had felt beneath her, his ragged breath and small groans...

She ignored the thought focusing on Katherine who for a few seconds looked totally stunned. She had not expected to hear that! When the shock faded Katherine lost herself in laughter, "You!-" she choked down another laugh, "Walked away," Caroline shot her an annoyed look when it seemed like she wasn't going to stop laughing anytime soon, "While he, Oh my god Care, that's cruel and that's coming from me!" Caroline looked mortified at that, she knew Katherine has pulled some stunts but to even shock Katherine... she knew it was stupid but he had totally deserved it.

Katherine wasn't finished though because before she could blink the brunette had thrown herself in her arms, her laughter still ringing in her ears. "I'm so proud of you!"

She pushed Katherine a bit away, "You're proud of me?" she asked, questioning her friends sanity.

"So, so proud. You just proved that you can totally handle New York and that you still have some of the old Caroline in you. I'm glad to see that Tyler didn't managed to get all of her out of you!" Katherine confessed and she smiled at her until the rest of her words caught up to her.

"Hey stop acting like Tyler changed me so much! I just grew up, it's what happens!" Caroline defended.

"I know you grew up, we all had to but don't even for a second pretend that he hasn't tried to change things about you. Because he did, and you might still feel bad about being dumped, but trust me, this can easily be the best thing that has happened to you!"

Caroline scoffed at that, "Oh yeah because my dream is to be single, unemployed, mortified and I don't know... any of those things!"

"No," Katherine shook her head, "Your dream used to be to leave Mystic Falls and to do something that made you happy. Tyler kept you in Mystic Falls and you wouldn't have left if it wasn't for his mistake. Now you're in the city of your dreams and sure it hasn't been easy but it's New York! Had you expected it to be?"

Caroline shook her head at that, she couldn't deny that her friend made a decent point, sure Katherine had always made it quite clear that she wanted to leave Mystic Falls, but it had been a dream of hers as well. She had just wanted it to be sensible, to make sure she had prospects when she did but then it all came so easily for her in Mystic Falls... she couldn't get herself to leave, and Tyler wouldn't have wanted to either. "That doesn't change that I totally ruined every chance on a job right now..."

"You can always take it," Katherine suggested and Caroline's eyes bulged out at that suggestion.

"Excuse me! You want me to work for that asshole!"

"No, I'm just saying if you want the job, you can always give him a chance. Maybe he surprises you and if you can't bare it, well you can always quit."

Caroline shook her head at her, "You and I both know that I won't quit, I hate quiting. Besides he doesn't deserve another chance."

Katherine waved at the phone, "Care, I don't know if you noticed but the phone has been ringing at least three minutes straight after you hang up that call. He's isn't going to give up that easily."

She looked at the phone that was now completely silent, she had noticed the nagging sound in the back of her head but had tried to cancel it out... Well he might not give up, but she wasn't going to give in either.

"Are you at least coming to the bar again tonight? I think you might need a few drink in you," she smiled at Katherine's offer until she realized something.

"Is Elijah going to be there?"

"I don't know, maybe. Why?"

"I'm not going," Caroline stated and Katherine looked at her in confusion, she felt sorry about her friend but she couldn't face Elijah after what happened with his brother today.

"Why? Did something happen between the two of you?"

"No, No!," she couldn't believe that Katherine would draw a conclusion like that, "Nothing happened it's just that... he's Mr. Mikaelson's brother and I can't face him right now."

Katherine laughed at that and she shot her a glare, "Care, I love you, but when you get yourself into one of these situations... you don't do it halfway do you?"

She rolled her eyes at Katherine, "Shut up! I can't help it that I have awful luck!" Katherine walked towards her room probably getting ready for work but Caroline could hear her laugh ringing back from her room. What was she going to do now?

* * *

Klaus had expected her to take his call later, for her to regret her decision or even for her to call him back later asking for the job. When it was 6:00 PM and he was getting ready to leave the office it was clear she wasn't going to do that. Well if she would take his calls, and she wouldn't call him he would have to try another tactic.

Luckily he hadn't turned of his computer yet, finding the site he needed he placed an order, hoping that he could change her mind. The bet was supposed to appease his need for a challenge but even that had been too easy, now Caroline... she was proven to a genuinely challenge, and he wouldn't mind winning that one at all. A girl like that was hard to come by but he knew it would only take time before she would reveal her true colors. Before she would either betray him or try to trap him in the little game she was playing. Well two could play and he could make Caroline want him, he just had to make sure that she wouldn't forget about him.

He had an idea but it was pathetic at best, still it was the only lead he had to where he could possibly find her, so he made him way to Trevor's in the hope to bump into her. If he could just make the offer face to face he could make sure that she wouldn't refuse him. He just needed to get close.

Trevor's however proved to be a bust. When he arrived he scanned the place for a blonde mane and even though he caught the eye of several blondes, non of them were the girl he was looking for.

He made his way over to the bar, ordering a scotch when he noticed his brother sitting not far from him, in a deep conversation with one of the bartenders. Well he should probably inform him of the little snag he had hit with getting his assistant. Who knew, maybe Elijah could convince the girl, he did seem to know her.

"Brother!" he smacked Elijah on his back and sat next to him, effectively pulling him from the conversation with the dark haired bartender. She was pretty enough but she reminded him too much of the types of girls that he had played around with in the past. These things never ended well and he hoped his brother was being careful, she didn't seem like his usual type. Not uptight enough.

He did caught Elijah's attention though, and that of the bartender as well. He was expecting an appreciatively look of her, a once over, anything at all. He got them from women all the time but to his surprise her eyes kept locked with Elijah's and when she did gave him a once over there was an unattractive sneer on her face. "Your brother?" she asked Elijah and waved towards him.

Elijah nodded and both men seemed to be clueless to the relevancy. "The same brother that interviewed my best friend today?" she asked and turned towards him, her eyes were filled with fire and Klaus knew that she must have known something of what had happened. Well why was she mad? He was the one that was left aching and afterwards couldn't even get the girl to say yes to a damn job!

Elijah must have known this already though, he just hadn't known any of the details and nodded at her, "Yes I gave him your number earlier to make sure he could inform her that she got the job. Has she gotten the message?" he asked and Katherine gave Klaus a last glare before she turned towards Elijah.

"Oh she got the message alright, she just refused."

"She refused?" Elijah looked confused at that, "Why would Caroline do that?"

"Well her exact words were: 'I want the job, I just don't want the boss' so make of that what you want." When she caught his surprised look when she recited the words that he could still hear Caroline say to him she shrugged at him, "I was sitting next to her. It was quite entertaining."

"Brother what have you done?" Elijah asked and Klaus couldn't believe how he was being blamed right away.

"I didn't do anything! I offered her the job and she denied," he turned towards Katherine, "Do tell her that if she ever changes her mind she only has to call." He was pretty confident that she wouldn't call him just like that, she didn't seem like the type but he had to get the offer out there.

Katherine scrunched her face, "I doubt it. Care doesn't change her mind that often. She's stubborn like that."

Klaus smiled, well she might be stubborn but he was sure he could change her mind eventually. "Still, pass the message," he winked at her before he turned around. He had no reason to stay in this bar anymore and he figured it was better to leave his brother with the bar wench. Well now he knew at least one thing. Caroline's best friend worked her, which meant that she would be here sometimes as well, he just had to find out when.

It was getting late and Caroline was sitting on the sofa in her sweatpants, a stupid reality program on her television and a tub of chocolate ice cream on her lap. She needed comfort food tonight, that decision to make healthy food this week surely hadn't last long. Well chocolate was healthy right? It came from a cocoa bean and beans are vegetables! It was a weak excuse but she didn't need any, she was going to eat her stupid ice cream and enjoy it as well.

Sure she could have gone to Trevor's and had a couple of drinks with her friend but hadn't she done that yesterday already? Besides what was the fun in any of it, if she ran into Elijah she would be mortified and if she ran into Klaus... well she had no idea what she would do then. A part of her body wanted to jump the asshole, the more reasonable part wanted to slap him.

Still she wasn't going to do either of those things, she was going to sit here in an empty apartment and eat some ice cream. Sounds like a great plan!

She was pulled from her thoughts by the ringing of the doorbell and reluctantly she walked towards the door and opened it to see who was standing in front of it.

She was greeted by a young man, eighteen at best, he was just a kid and clearly her on a job. He had a clipboard in his hands and read something from it before he looked up at her, "Euhm Caroline Forbes?" he asked and had a relieved smile when Caroline nodded at that. "Oh thank you, I was almost afraid I had the wrong door. I didn't see your name on it and there has been a few fake orders these months already and I wouldn't know what to tell my boss if I had another."

Caroline looked at the boy in confusion, "Okay back up for a minute, an order? I haven't ordered anything."

He smiled at her, "Well it's kinda the idea of getting those isn't it?" he crouched down and grabbed a vase of flowers that he had put down next to the door, probably to check his clipboard before he rang the door. He handed her the flowers and she looked at them in surprise.

"These are beautiful," she murmured while she smelled their sweet scent. The bouquet was a beautiful mix of pink, white and purple flowers, she recognized the pink roses and white magnolia's but had no idea what a few of the others were. Still it was beautiful collection and she suddenly realized what the boy had said, she had gotten them. But from who? No one knew that she was living here and why would they want to send her flowers in the first place.

"You don't happen to know who they're from do you?" she asked the boy and he shook his head at her.

"Nope, I only deliver but I think there's a card with it. Now I have to make the next delivery! Have a good night." Caroline smiled at him when he left and walked back in the apartment with the flowers, she put them on the counter and checked everywhere for a card.

She found it quite easily and sighed in relief while she opened it. That relief disappeared when she read the text that was written on it,

_If you want to finish what we started, you know where to find me. But no matter what you decide, the job is yours! Klaus_

Sure he clearly stated that the job was hers even if she didn't want him in another way but the fact that he had to state that in the first place irked her wrong. Did he really think that she only rejected the job because she was afraid that she had to go further with him if she did? He couldn't be more wrong.

* * *

He heard his phone ringing and checked the time before he answered. Exactly at time, it seemed his package was delivered.

"Caroline," he said while he answered the tone and he hated to admit it but he was anticipating her reaction. He knew the note would piss her off but he couldn't resist to rile her up a bit.

"I can't believe you!" she shouted through the horn and Klaus smiled at the sound.

"I have been told that I'm too good to believe before," he admitted with a sly smile before he continued, "But what is it exactly that you are referring to love?"

"I got your flowers," she bit out.

"I know you have, you wouldn't have called me otherwise," he told her and smirked at that. He knew that if he would ask Caroline about the job she would only ignore him, but he had seen and heard enough about her character to take a gamble. He knew that if he pissed her of she would call him herself. It seemed like he was right.

"You wanted me to call you?" she sounded surprised at that.

"Obviously, I've tried to get you to take my call already and that didn't work. I knew the only way to talk to you was if you initiated it."

"You added that note to get me mad on purpose," she realized and Klaus smiled at that.

"To make sure you would want to yell at me a bit, yes."

"So that I would call you," she stated and he could hear a smack over the phone, it almost sounded like she had dropped her face in her hands but he couldn't be sure. "I'm an idiot."

"Actually I think you're quite bright, it's why I want to hire you," Klaus confessed, well among other reasons he thought to himself.

"I've already said no, why should I change my mind now?" she asked and she wondered why she wasn't hanging up. Why was she even listening to this insufferable man?

"Well maybe now that you're calmed down you realize your decision was a bit rash..." he tried and then chuckled, "Even though it seems like you make a lot of rash decisions."

"You just love bringing that up don't you?" she challenged him and he let out another chuckle.

"Well there is a certain joy in envisioning how you looked with your hand wr-"

"Just give up already!" she huffed and he suspected that she looked quite flustered at the moment.

"I'm not one to give up love, why can't you just take the job? You know you want it."

"Maybe a little, but that's not enough to change my mind. You're not the only stubborn one here Klaus. So you should look for another assistant, it's not going to be me." Again he heard a beeping tone and he realized that once again she had hang up on him. He couldn't believe that had happened again, he had hoped that he would change her mind but he just had to come up with another plan. He did make one small progress, she had called him Klaus this time.

He tried to think of another way to convince her to say yes but he hoped that now that Elijah knew he could persuade the girl, her friend would mention his offer as well... Even if she could avoid him, she couldn't avoid everyone that could bring him up or pass a message!

* * *

**The next chapter will give more clarity about what Klaus is going to do next. We'll have:  
****- Katherine and Elijah trying to change Caroline's mind,  
- Klaus having his Salvatore meeting and finally meeting Stefan,  
- Someone gets promoted,  
- Klaus will find a way to get what he wants.**

**Please tell me how you think these things will work out, I love to see your theories!  
Next update should be ready on Sunday!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Thank you for the reviews! I reached a hundred reviews this time**_ beverlie405_ **that was you :) I messaged you about getting to ask a question or getting a sneak peek but I haven't heard from you yet so when you read this you know you can message me about that :)**

**For the rest of you! Thank you to those who read it, favorite, follow or review, I can't believe any of it but I'm really glad you guys are enjoying it. I know there's been a couple of incidents in the Klaroline fandom with plagiat and hate anons and I hope we can all ignore those that are insecure about their own ship to hate on others.**

**Thank you to** _Klaroline-fantasies_ **for the beautiful new cover, and thank you to **_mscyanide_** for a great theory about how Katherine would persuade Caroline. I loved her idea a lot and I might have worked it in a bit in this chapter so just that you all know, Katherine's idea is thanks to her :)**

* * *

**Chapter 10**

"Caroline is there any way I can get you to change your mind?" Elijah asked her once again. She had been talking to him for the past twenty minutes and he had tried to convince her to take Klaus' job offer.

She could hardly explain him why she said no so he had basically offered her anything to persuade her. First he thought the pay wasn't enough so he offered her an instant raise, then the hours, he even made it clear that her dress code was quite flexible and what she had been wearing before was fine. She was quite certain that last part was Katherine's influence though.

When she had explained to him that the job itself was fine but that she had no desire to work for Klaus... well that was when it became awkward. There had been a pregnant pause before Elijah started with a question, seemed to change his mind and offered to talk to his brother. To let him know that Caroline wasn't to be messed with.

She appreciated the gesture, she really did but she wasn't going to change her mind. She had had one interview, now she was just hoping on another one.

"Can you get me a different boss?" Caroline asked Elijah jokingly.

"I'm afraid he's technically mine as well..."

"Why do you want me to accept this job so bad Elijah?" Caroline finally asked, the matter had been bugging her the whole conversation.

"My brother had made it abundantly clear that he didn't want a new assistant. We set up the ads anyway and made him hold interviews because we knew he needed one. He won't admit to needing anyone so we had expected this to be a long process. But there you were, not only did he offered you the job, he seemed very persistent in you being his new assistant. I don't know if he will agree to anyone else," Elijah explained.

Caroline mused it over but the words didn't change her mind. She was quite sure why Klaus wanted her so bad, just another challenge, and she wasn't going to become one. Still Elijah needed her help and she hated to let her new acquaintance down. "If he won't agree, then don't give him a choice in the matter."

"What are you suggesting Miss Forbes?" Elijah asked her and a smile grew on her face.

"You can always trick him you know... Hire someone from your company for the job and tell Klaus that it's temporarily until he found someone of his liking," she scoffed, "You can even say that it's just until I change my mind."

"You want to trick my brother?" Elijah said bewildered.

"Well yes, you have a better idea?"

"I might have another card to play, talk to Katherine, she has some information that we discussed would be better to hear from her. But if you still refuse the offer... where am I going to find anyone in the company that will volunteer to be Klaus' assistant?" She could see his problem but was to focused on his earlier words. What did Katherine now that would be important enough that Elijah thought it to change her mind...

"I don't know, hire the receptionist for all I care, you know what qualities you're looking for. Just choose someone who possesses those and probably someone who can work under pressure. I doubt Klaus will let them relax often," she let out a sigh, "I'm awful. I can't believe I'm subjecting someone to this horrible faith."

Elijah let out a chuckle, "I'm sure she will survive, believe it or not, there are plenty women that actually want this job."

Caroline snorted at that, "Well they clearly haven't met your brother," she looked over her shoulder and saw Katherine walk back in the bar.

When her friend had requested Caroline to help her with the inventory this morning she hadn't expected Elijah to be there as well. She surely hadn't expected him to talk to her about his brother but it didn't change anything for her. Still she couldn't believe Katherine had just left them to talk about it, why did everyone wanted her to take this job so damn much?

Elijah noticed how Caroline's eyes feel on Katherine and smiled, "Well I should get back to the office and you two have some things to discuss. But I'll think about your idea Caroline. Just know that if you change your mind, all you have to do is ask."

Caroline resisted the urge to roll her eyes, "Yeah your brother said such a thing as well. It doesn't matter, I won't."

Katherine returned to their table, scribbling some numbers on her piece of paper and looked over at the two. "You're leaving?" she asked Elijah.

"Yes, I need to go back to the office," Elijah explained and Caroline wasn't sure if she imagined it but for a moment Katherine looked sad, then she composed herself and nodded.

"Well let me walk you out." Before Elijah could protest she had grabbed his hand and led the way, Caroline could see the two speak a bit longer before Elijah left and Katherine joined her again.

"So did you really need to do inventory today?" Caroline asked when Katherine returned.

"Nope," Katherine said with a big grin, "But it seemed like a plausible excuse and it seemed like it worked."

She sighed, "I already told Elijah that I won't change my mind."

"I know, you never would. We just thought you should know something before you make that final decision."

"What should I know?" Caroline pressed, the grin had disappeared from Katherine's face and she found herself worrying about what her friend had to say.

"You should know why there is such little response on your applications," Katherine told her and Caroline looked at her conflicted.

"I wasn't aware there was a reason for that other than unexperienced and new in town," Caroline told her, her mind reeling trying to come up with an explanation.

Katherine nodded at her, "Yeah so did I, until Elijah told me that you were a last entry. He hadn't put you on the list first but wanted to give you a chance after all. He was impressed by your experience and you were one of the most promising candidates they had heard of so soon..."

"But? Come on Katherine I can hear that but coming from a mile away," she glared at Katherine, hoping she would get to the point quickly because she had no idea why Katherine was even trying to persuade her to get a job while she knew what had happened.

Katherine avoided her glare and continued, "Well it seems like you got quite a bad reference from your previous employer."

Caroline took in a short breath, "I've got a what now?" she asked in shock. How could that have happened, there was only one person that would give her a reference and that was. "Mrs. Lockwood!" she spoke out loud in realization.

"Yep it seems like that bitch has been busy ruining all your job opportunities. Apparently you are lazy, unreliable and make hasty decisions. Now that last one can be true at times but we both now that non of these describe you at all, especially not work you."

"But why would she do that? Caroline questioned, "Carol and I have never had any problems together, I have worked for her for five years, doing every little thing she requested and then I get fired because her son dumped her and now she's even smearing my non existing reputation in New York!" She was growing angry, not understanding why this had happened but she wanted answers, she needed this to stop. How else was she going to get a job here? At the same time she didn't want to have to contact the woman, not after what she did, not after what her son had done. Still, this was more important that Tyler.

"You're thinking of demanding answers aren't you?" Katherine asked, recognizing the look on her face.

Caroline nodded, "Of course I am. I can't believe this happened. I'm just glad that Elijah told you, at least now I can change things."

"Well you don't have to you know..." Katherine said carefully.

She raised her eyebrow, "Why not?" she asked slowly.

"Well what if you left the reference out," Katherine opted and Caroline looked at her incredulous.

"What than?" That way I would lose my only reference and I have nothing to prove my competence!"

"Well that reference is nothing worth now anyway so I doubt it would do you much harm..." Katherine said and Caroline couldn't deny that there was truth in her words. Still she knew a reference was needed for a good job, Katherine wasn't done though. "What if you get a reference from someone else."

"From who?" she asked confused, she had just one long lasting job experience, who was she going to ask about a reference. Of course Katherine's next words should have surprised her, it was why she was here of course. Still they had caught her of guard.

"Klaus."

Caroline coughed, not sure if Katherine was serious or not but she had to laugh at the idea. "You want me to put up Klaus as a reference? Firstly, why would I? Secondly, that's not how it works, I don't work for him so he's not a reference. Thirdly, why would he? And finally... Have you lost your mind!?" the last words she screamed out, unable to belief how Katherine even came up with these things. She had heard some weird stuff come out of her friend's mouth but this didn't make any sense whatsoever.

"Just listen alright?" Katherine offered and begrudgingly Caroline nodded, she could at least give Kat the chance to explain. "Yes I want you to put Klaus up as your reference because he has a great working company and a good word from him could really help you out." When Katherine noticed how she was ready to interject she held up her hand, "No interrupting until I'm finished. Secondly, I know that's not how it works, that's why you'll have to work there."

Caroline's eyes widened at that and she shook her head in distress, "Nope... no, no and no. That's not going to happen."

Katherine shot her a glare, "What did I say about no interruptions?" she asked before she continued, "I never said a longtime job, just stay there for a couple of weeks, a few months at most, long enough for it to have some weight on your resume. Which brings me to why Klaus will agree... Because if he doesn't, you can make it publicly known how he basically harassed you at your interview. He has no choice in the matter. And if I lost my mind? No I think I'm a freaking genius."

Katherine finished her talk and Caroline looked at her in wonder, "Katherine Pierce... I don't know if you're evil or just plain brilliant but both probably work to describe you," Katherine's smile grew at that, "But I have to think about it. When I said that I don't want to work for Klaus I mean it. Even a few weeks would be too long."

Katherine nodded in understanding but she knew her friend would have to make a choice, at least now she knew her options.

Klaus walked into the office of Stefan Salvatore, seeing the man working behind his desk. He knocked on the door to inform Stefan of his entrance but the man seemed stuck in his work. "What's so interesting in those papers?" Klaus asked and chuckled when Stefan's head shot up.

"Klaus, sorry I was distracted," Stefan apologized while he stood up and extended his hand to him. He took it and they shook before they both took place.

"It's alright mate, we've all have it sometimes," he looked around and noticed how Damon was noticeably absent. "Wasn't your brother going to be here as well?" Klaus questioned, remembering Damon's frustration when he himself had been late earlier that week.

Stefan looked uncomfortable at the question, "Yeah Damon had decided that he had more pressing matters since he was already there when the contract got changed. He doesn't find these matters interesting for him."

Klaus rolled his eyes at the older Salvatore's behavior but he couldn't say he was surprised about them. "Well I guess it's just us then," he grabbed the contract from his briefcase and put it on the table over the stack of papers that already lay there. "So your brother tried to change the price we agreed on, obviously he failed on that department but we did agree that I would pay for a new offices for you to continue as long as it is close by my company. It needs to be easy to reach, until then you can use the fourth floor of my building, I understand your lease runs out next week."

Stefan nodded at him, "Yeah we need to find a new place as soon as possible, but we would like to use your floor now we can. Damon was just very amendment on having our own space."

Klaus shrugged, "It's fine, I have to confess, I haven't had the chance to look for places yet, is there anything you've had your eye on already?"

Stefan chuckled, "Nope, haven't had the time. I was hoping that when we hire our assistant she can do the searching."

Klaus laughed at that, "Yeah I was hoping the same thing! You're looking for a new assistant?" he asked Stefan, wheels in his head starting to turn.

"Yeah we really need some extra help now and then so we placed an ad a few days ago," Stefan pointed at the stack of papers in front of him, "I'm just trying to pick someone qualified but I have no idea what I'm searching for."

Klaus looked at the stack, there was a small chance but he knew that she had been desperate in her search, was there a chance... "Can I see?" Klaus asked and when Stefan looked at him confused he explained, "I've had some interviews myself yesterday, maybe I can pick out those that you should definitely not hire."

"Sure take a look," Stefan handed him the folders and he quickly skimmed through them. Kirstin Shears, nope. Megan van Walen, no. Hannah Armstrong, not her. Caroline Forbes, got it. He quickly grabbed her file and laid it out on top, he opened it and looked at the information to verify that this was truly the Caroline he was searching for. "I want to add another term," Klaus told him and Stefan looked up in confusion.

"What can you possibly want now?" Stefan asked him and looked at his smirk with doubt.

Klaus revealed the folder in his hand, opening it and laying the papers out over Stefan's desk. "Caroline Forbes, hire her," he instructed Stefan.

"Why would I do that?" Stefan asked sceptically.

"I interviewed her yesterday, she's good. Has experience and can probably hold her own against your brother, which you'll need in an assistant."  
"Then why won't you hire her?" Stefan asked, "If she's that good..."  
"I tried," Klaus confessed, "She turned me down."

Stefan laughed at that, "You offered her the job but she said no? Why's that?"

"Because she says she doesn't like me and she doesn't want to work for me. But she needs a job and I think you guys can use someone like her." If Caroline would say no to him, he was certain she would say yes to Stefan. And when she did, she would have to work in his building until they found new office space, which if he had his way, would take a looooong time.

Stefan nodded, "Okay we'll set up an interview with her, but you better are not making me regret this."

Klaus smirked, well that brought him a bit closer to Caroline already.

Elijah arrived back in the building and walked past the reception, he noticed the two women that worked there and thought back to Caroline's words, _"I don't know, hire the receptionist for all I care, you know what qualities you're looking for." _She might haven't meant it seriously but Caroline wasn't wrong. The receptionist would have enough experience with taking the phone and he only needed someone to hold the position for long enough until Caroline would change her mind.

He hoped that if she heard that the position was taken that she would change her mind about rejecting it. Sometimes it takes losing something before you realize how much it means to you. Hopefully that was a technique that would work with Caroline as well.

He looked at the two women, one he knew had worked here for over five years now, Audrey if he wasn't mistaken. He called her over and she walked to him confused, a bit worried as well as if she thought that she was getting a warning. But that wasn't why he was calling her. Caroline had been right, this wouldn't work without tricks, but maybe Klaus wasn't the only one he needed to trick.

"Audrey how long have you been working here?" he asked the women.

"Seven years Mr. Mikaelson," she answered quickly.

"And have you always wanted to be a receptionist?"

"I like the job, yes."

"Is there a way I could persuade you to change jobs for a little while?" Elijah asked her, he hoped his plan would work.

"How do you mean?" Audrey asked, afraid that this would mean she would lose her job.

"You see, Klaus is in need of an assistant but the girl he wishes to hire has refused him. Now I am hoping that she will reconsider but until that time my brother is in need of an assistant. I would like you to take over that position temporarily, you'll get a higher pay and when Caroline accepts you can have your old job back, you'll even get a raise for your hard work. Now what do you say Audrey?"

* * *

Audrey was stunned, not sure what she could say, she hadn't expected this to happen and even though she was still confused about the matter she knew this was a good opportunity. So she nodded. She nodded and the deal was struck.

Audrey would be Klaus' assistant until they girl they wanted accepted or they found a better replacement, she would get paid more and all she had to do was make sure that Klaus wasn't aware of what Elijah had planned. He had to think she was there permanently.

She liked Elijah, had seen him around for quite a few years and she hoped his plan would work. Whatever his plan was.

* * *

**And to add another thanks,** Readinglove13**'s love for Audrey is what gave me the idea to incorporate her as a full character :) She'll be back.**

**A bit of a late update but I'm currently babysitting and I still had to write this whole chapter. I had a birthday yesterday so I couldn't write then and had to help my mother torture the Christmas tree the first hald of today. So this has been written in a rush and it's just thirty minutes before midnight but I made my Sunday deadline :)**

**Next chapter should be up on Thuesday and will have:  
-A job offer for Caroline,  
-Klaus' first interaction with Audrey,  
-Katherine and Elijah scheming together.**

**Please tell me how you think these things will work out, I love to see your theories!  
**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hi!I did promise you a chapter for today :)**

**Thank you to everyone who read the last chapter and I would like to address the concern about Audrey, whether you fear that she will get between Caroline and Klaus or that you are concerned about her well being while having to work for Klaus, I appreciate the fact that you even care about a character that you've know nothing about yet. Well I hope this chapter tells a bit more about her, if only a little.**

* * *

**Chapter 11**

Elijah had called Katherine after he had met with Audrey to inform her of his plan, he would be visiting her at home later that day and she suddenly was in a hurry to clean. Elijah seemed like a gentleman, he was nice, he talked to her and actually listened to her as well and here her apartment was a mess and she was actually nervous. Katherine Pierce didn't get nervous, it wasn't like it was a date, he was just becoming a friend of her, a friend she would like too see without his clothes on... nothing wrong with that.

But it wasn't like that between them, Elijah didn't seem to be the type for a casual relationship and she? She didn't do serious relationships, they only ended up in heartbreak and it wasn't like she was good with the whole trusting part...

She tried to snap out of her betraying thoughts, she shouldn't have those, he wasn't coming over for her, well not in that way. He was only here so that they could trick her best friend and his brother in working together civilly. She had to admit that she felt a bit bad about tricking Caroline but when she heard about what Carol had pulled she knew this was the only way. Caroline needed a job, to be successful, to show the Lockwoods that she would be fine without them. She had a suspicion that Tyler was involved with the whole ordeal but she couldn't confront him. If she did, he would know that she was still in contact with Caroline and he would connect the dots. Caroline had made it clear that she didn't want anyone to know where she was.

Still, even with the bad reference she had a job offer, the boss might be a creep but Elijah would keep his brother in line, he promised her that. And if he didn't? Well Katherine had given Caroline the back-up option, threaten a good reference out of him.

She dropped the cushion that she held and sat down on the sofa, it didn't matter anyway, Caroline needed a job and if there was another one available, Katherine would support her a hundred percent, but she feared this was the only way.

She heard a knock on her door and opened it, coming face to face with Elijah. She smiled at him and moved aside, allowing him to enter her home. He greeted her and she could see him eyes wander around the room. "You have a lovely home," Elijah said and her smile grew at his manners.

"No I don't," she denied, "It's small and a mess but I don't need much anyway."

At that moment she was glad that Elijah was a businessman at heart, he sat down on a chair and turned towards Katherine, going straight to the point. "So Audrey, the receptionist will take Caroline's position until she changes her mind. She has almost ten years of work experience so she should be able to handle my brother."

Katherine nodded, "But isn't it inconvenient for her to change jobs just like that? Why would she help you?" It seemed odd that someone would go through all that trouble just to get someone else a job.

"Audrey has worked for us for over six years, she's always been a receptionist with us but I know she has previous experience as an assistant. She prefers being a receptionist but she can use the extra money that this will bring her," noticing Katherine's questioning gaze her clarified, "I asked her about that, she's a single mother. Her son is only twelve years old but she got him when she was eighteen. She always worked hard to provide for him, did her best to study and get a job that would provide for them. But still, New York is expensive and they can use the raise she's offered. I suppose she saw this as an opportunity so she took it."

Katherine nodded in response, Elijah's explanation triggered a memory that she didn't want to relive but she couldn't deny the age. Audrey would have been seventeen when she got pregnant, that was young but still she had managed to take care of herself and her kid on her own. She wondered if she could have done that... She pushed the thought away, it wasn't relevant to the matter.

"So she'll keep Caroline's job safe, but how is that going to help us?" Katherine wondered, sure it was useful but she doubted that Klaus would hire someone else anyway, he seemed headstrong on hiring Caroline.

"Well we just need them to interact, if Audrey and Caroline meet, Audrey will talk greatly about her job, hopefully resulting in some sort of envy on Caroline's side-" Katherine interrupted him with a snort.

"I'm sorry but that's not going to work. Caroline will see through that right away. She has met your brother, even if she talks positive about him, she'll just assume that they are sleeping together or something."

"Well than what do you propose?" Elijah asked her.

"Let it be for a while, make sure she knows that the job is taken, let the subject come up once in a while and see how she reacts. If we continue to be this aggressive about it Caroline will protest and no one can change Caroline's mind when she has it set on something."

"So we do nothing?" Elijah wondered.

"No we've done several things already, we just stay low for now..." Katherine looked at Elijah with a calculated gaze, "You haven't schemed a lot in your life have you?"

Elijah shook his head, "Can't say I have."  
She smirked at that, "Well I guess I have a lot to teach you."

* * *

"Mr. Mikaelson," a clear voice called for him and he noticed a brown haired woman standing in front of his office. She looked familiar, he knew she worked for them but he couldn't remember for what department. Behind the woman his sister stood with a grin on her face. He didn't know what was going on but clearly it pleased Bekah.

"Can I help you?" he asked the woman and he hoped she would get to the point quickly, he had a lot of work to continue.

"Yes your brother send me here, he assigned me to be your new assistant."

Klaus took in her form, while he traced back her words. His assistant? This girl was supposed to be his assistant? That would not do, he had requested Caroline and he would take no other. "Which brother?" he snapped at her.

"Elijah of course," Rebekah chimed in happily, "He must have noticed how I couldn't stand working for you and obviously you were going to find anyone that would say yes to you so he pulled some strings. Your loss," she said to Audrey without any compassion in her voice.

"I never asked for your help Rebekah," Klaus said letting every word pass his lips slowly.

"Of course you didn't, you would never dare to ask. But you needed it so I offered but honestly I don't even understand how Laura handled working for you for several months, I can't even take it for a week and I'm bloody used to you!"

"Well if I'm so awful to work for, then why don't you just leave!" Klaus yelled at her and he could see Audrey move back a little, clearly uncomfortable to stand between the two siblings while they had there little spat.

"Because family doesn't run out on each other," Rebekah said with conviction, "You needed the help so I gave it but that doesn't mean I can't be glad that it's over. Treat your employees with respect Niklaus, even you should be able to do that."

"I think it's time for you to leave," he told her and turned around, he couldn't believe that Elijah would hire someone else, did he have no faith in him? Didn't he believe that he could change Caroline's mind? Not that it mattered, she would be working for the Salvatores from now on, which meant he would still see her around. Would have plenty of opportunities. But Elijah didn't know that, and still he hired someone else. And then Rebekah, complaining about him as a boss, how did she expected to be treated? She was complaining non stop about her chores while he was busy with more important things. Did she assume it was easy to run a company? He had to learn things as well and he hadn't complained but took the challenge...

He looked up at the woman who was still standing in his entrance shifting on her feet and trying to hide her discomfort. Well if she was going to work for him she would have to get used to it, "What's your name?" he asked and noticed how she actually looked surprised at being addressed.

That surprise faded quickly though and the next emotion that registered was a bit of anger, "Audrey," she told him and he could hear some bite in her tone, "I've been working here for the past six years as your receptionist downstairs. You talked to me yesterday about letting one of the women interviewing for this job wait."

"Oh that was you," he hadn't placed her face but now he knew. After Caroline had left he had asked Audrey about her, verifying her story or just want to know something he wasn't sure. Either was she had seemed surprised when he had mentioned how crowded it was at the time but she had explained that she was working alone that day. Well at least he knew she could handle the phone, but he would have to have a chat with Elijah soon.

The only sibling that hadn't raised his anger yet that day arrived around four, Kol walked in his room, took a look at Audrey and murmured a quiet "Too old," before he walked in Klaus' office. "What happened with the hot blonde you wanted so bad yesterday? Couldn't reach her? You know I can give you her number... but maybe I want to use it for myself. I mean if she was good enough to make you change your mind about hiring an assistant think about the things she could do with that body when she has actual pleasure."

Klaus growled when he heard the way Kol talked about her, "Don't talk about her like that," he shot him a glare before he continued, "And don't worry, I managed to get her number. She just got another work opportunity so she decided to pass." There was no way he was going to admit to Kol that Caroline outright refused him.

"So she won't be with you? Well I will definitely have to look her up then," Kol smirked and Klaus leaned forward giving his brother a threatening look.

"You will do no such thing. You will leave Caroline alone and if I find out you tried to contact her... I'll tear out your liver," Klaus' voice was laced with disgust, he knew some of the stunts Kol pulled on women, he had done them himself as well but he wasn't going to let Caroline be used like that. He might want her, and he might not play it fair, but he wouldn't be cruel.

"Nik, are you actually caring for a woman that you just met? I thought you've learned from those mistakes."

He couldn't believe Kol would dare to bring that up but didn't comment. He knew his brother was trying to get a rise out of him, he just had to remain calm. "I don't care for her. I just have plans for her and I don't want you intervene with those."

Kol looked thoughtful at that but eventually nodded, "Fine I'll let you make a move, but just know this brother, if she ever comes to me- I won't push her away." He smirked at that and Klaus sneered at him.

"I doubt that will ever happen."

"We'll see."

* * *

Caroline was walking in the mall with Katherine's credit card in her pocket. The two friends were supposed to shop together but apparently something had come up. Even though Katherine had wanted to dress her stylish but business like she had trusted her to do it herself. She even got her credit card to pay for it, knowing that Caroline couldn't. She just said that she had to pay it back with her first pay check.

She hoped that one would appear sooner rather than later. She also had to promise to keep all the receipts to make sure that Katherine could return everything she didn't approve of. It was a hassle but Caroline rediscovered that she loved shopping. All her problems seemed to disappear for a moment, he biggest right now whether to pick the blue or the purple blouse.

Well everyone did always say that blue brought out the color of her eyes so she settled on that one. She had picked a green skater dress with a thin brown belt around the waist, the dress reached just above her knees but she expected it to get Kat's approval. After all she did remind to add color! She did however added a black dress that was a bit more formal, just in case her next job requested it. She didn't want to take chances, she just had to look and wait.

She really wanted to call back to Mystic Falls and confront the mayor but she knew this wasn't something she could just handle over the phone. The only way to see if she was being lied to was if she was there in person... and right now, she wasn't ready for that yet. So she tried to ignore it, to forget about it and hoped that she could make it here without them."

She had walked through several stores but hadn't found anything that she approved of that Katherine would approve of as well. She was buying the clothes and it was part of the rules for the first dress so the least she could do was following them. But it was running late and she just wanted to get home. She stopped at a Starbucks for her coffee fix and sat down for a minute to take a break. She looked over the people hurrying to get their stuff, the group of young teenage girls giggling and whispering when they noticed a cute boy pass by. Still young, innocent and carefree. How she wished that period could stay but even if it had, it wouldn't have mattered, her youth didn't stay innocent and she wasn't carefree either. She couldn't.

The buzzing sound of her phone pulled her from her thoughts and she took the phone reluctantly when she saw an unknown number appear. She took the call and waited until the other person made theirself known before she spoke. "Stefan Salvatore, is this Caroline Forbes?" she could hear someone speak and she trailed her mind to why that name sounded familiar.

"Yes you're speaking to her, Mr. Salvatore, you're from the software company aren't you?"

"Yes I am, it's the company of my brother and I, that's actually why I'm calling you. We've received your application and I would like to offer you the job." The wheels in Caroline's head started reeling, she was just being offered the job. Just like that? No interview first? Something seemed odd about that, sure Stefan sounded sincere but now that she knows about the bad reference... she hadn't expected another offer, especially so soon after Klaus.

So she decided to just ask about it. "Shouldn't you want an interview first, you barely know me," Caroline said carefully.

"Well you had a good reference," Stefan revealed and Caroline looked confused at that, had the bad references stopped? Maybe she didn't have to confront Carol after all. "But of course we can meet, we move to another office on Monday so I have to go pack up the office tomorrow anyway. I know it's a Saturday and you might have plans but if you could come by we can get to know each other a bit better and if we both agree, you can sign the contract."  
Caroline thought it over and decided to take a leap of faith. She had to learn how to let people in and this could be a great chance for her. "I'll be there."

"Great, if you could come over around noon it would be great!" Stefan told her and jokingly added, "And if you like you can even help pack some stuff."

She let out a laugh at that, "We'll see how it goes," she told him, "I'll see you tomorrow Mr. Salvatore."

"Till tomorrow Miss Forbes."

She hung up her phone and looked at it in a daze. This did not just happen, her second interview in a week. Maybe the tides had turned, maybe Jupiter was in some strange position? She had no idea how it had happened but it had. Finishing her coffee she let the shopping for what is was and ran back home. Well this would mean everyone would stop trying to convince her to take a job that she didn't want... Which reminded her of the fact that Klaus hadn't tried anything that day. She would have expected after his calls, his flowers and that note that he would try again. But for now it had been silent. She didn't know why that disappointed her.

When she got home she was presented by the surprising sight of Elijah on her sofa, Katherine close next to him. She wanted to ask what he was doing here but from the way her friend was looking at him it was best not to put attention on it. She knew how Katherine looked when she was falling for someone. Most of her past boyfriends were one stupid decision after the other, but Elijah could be real. Sure he was older, but he was definitely not the oldest guy Katherine had ever been with... Erasing that thought she looked at the way they sat together, they didn't knew each other even a week ago. A CFO and a bartender, but looking at them Caroline knew that something was right with them. She just wished they would realize that as well.

She made sure to drop her keys to make some noise, alerting them of her presence. She crouched down to pick them up and when she was back up Elijah sat on a chair while Katherine sat alone on the sofa. Caroline wanted to comment on it but let it go.

"Hi Elijah, what are you doing here?" she asked while she put her bags down and leaned against the counter.

"I just came here to discuss something with Katherine, it appears my brother found a new assistant and I thought I should inform you of the matter," she could feel both of their eyes on her, scanning for her reaction but she didn't let anything show. She wondered if it was because of her conversation with Elijah that Klaus had an assistant, a trick as they had agreed on or that Klaus had gone out to find another girl, one that would be less agreeable... She didn't know but whatever the cause was, Klaus Mikaelson meant nothing to her, so why should she care? Why would she care about the fact that once again someone was over her, even if she hadn't liked him, why did everyone chose someone else over her? Always, he couldn't even try to convince her for more than a day.

Still she didn't show anything and shrugged in response, "Good, he will need one. Now that we're talking about jobs anyway... I got another interview. I'll go there tomorrow!"

Her announcement was met with silence which she found suspicious, she didn't miss the look that Katherine and Elijah shared before they greeted her with smiles. "That's great news! Which company?" Katherine asked.

Caroline beamed at them, "The Salvatores, they had that software remember?" she told Katherine missing the surprised look that crossed Elijah's face.

"The Salvatores," Elijah murmured and his eyes widened in recognition.

"You know them?" Caroline asked him, she knew that Elijah would have some connections, maybe he had a pull in this? Or maybe some tips or anything that could help her.

Elijah shook his hear though, "No I have never met them, I've just heard about them. They seem very promising." That was all Elijah revealed but she didn't miss the glint in his eyes that told her there was more to the story. She would ask about that later, she wanted to make a decision about these brothers on her own before she listened to others.

* * *

**Yay Kol and Rebekah are back, I was missing them :) I doubt Klaus has...**

**_Challenge:_  
I have added a bit more hints and information about past experiencs of a couple of characters, I want to delve into a few of them soon but others will stay hidden a bit longer. Still I would love to hear your theories about what has happened with them! Leave it in a review or send me a pm, if you're right, please stay silent and I will send you the next chapter early!**

**(If you have a guest account I can't PM it to you, if you have tumblr leave me your username and I'll contact you there.)  
**

**Unfortunately the wait for the next chapter will be a bit longer. I have to go to back the hospital tomorrow, and I'm not sure that I can update within the regular two days again. Instead I have my timeline set on Friday for the next update!**

**Leave me your thoughts and thank you for reading!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hi! Sorry for the added day but I'm afraid that updating every other day is going to get harder soon. Still at least twice a week should be doable :)**

**I want to thank** _Klaroline4everlove_ **for being the 125th reviewer :) She got her reward of either a question or sneak peek ;)  
Also thank you for everyone that send in their theories about the pasts of these characters. Two of them got close to the truth and I have send them this chapter yesterday as promised :)**

**So here is the next chapter, number 12 already. I can't believe I just started this story about three weeks ago...**

* * *

**Chapter 12**

When Elijah left she had discussed the new interview with Katherine, she would meet with Mr. Salvatore and would see how it went from there. If it was a disaster she could refuse again, if all went well, she would sign the contract and would have an actual job... she let out a sigh of relief at the thought of it. She really needed to work again, to be busy and she did love organizing and planning stuff.

When she asked Katherine about Elijah's visit her friend avoided the question. She knew there was more to the visit than Elijah wanting to inform her about Klaus' new assistant, she could see how Katherine and Elijah looked at each other but Katherine stayed hesitant. She had said that nothing had happened and that she doubted it would, she wasn't Elijah's type. Caroline wasn't sure about that but she would let the two figure it out on her own. She didn't want to intervene.

After Elijah had told her about Klaus' new assistant she had expected Klaus to be done with her, he didn't call again, that much was right. But she had realized her mistake after the flowers too late. When she had called him that night before, she had used her own cellphone, and now he possessed her number. Which from the six unread messages in her inbox, he had started to use.

A part of her wanted to read the messages, just to know what he would write in them, but she knew it would just be crap to get to her and she wouldn't let him do that. She was good in ignoring people when she had to and how hard could it be to ignore Klaus Mikaelson? She didn't have to run into him ever again, well maybe with Elijah but she didn't expect him to set them up somewhere so she was safe on that account.

Still she hated how she was in a position where she needed to avoid someone, she was in a brand new city where no one knew her. How did she got in this position so fast? Well she did remember how it had happened, she remembered it very clearly, she just wished she could forget as well.

It was almost noon and Caroline was ready for her meeting with Stefan Salvatore, she had made sure that this time, she would be on time. She wanted this meeting to go totally different, no almost sleeping with her future possible boss. It couldn't be that hard to avoid that right?  
She was directed to the office and was greeted by a friendly face, "Caroline Forbes?" he asked and she nodded at him. He stood up and walked towards her, grabbing her hand and shook it once. "Stefan Salvatore. I'm glad you could make it."

Caroline smiled and looked around the office, the whole place seemed neat, not a thing out of place but also not a thing yet packed. "Well it seemed like you could use some help. How are you going to get everything packed and moved before Monday?" she asked and Stefan chuckled.

"Offering to move our stuff already? We should really hire you!" he told her and she noticed a relieved expression cross his face. Whatever the cause could be, it had passed and now he looked at her with curiosity. "Why are you here Miss Forbes?"

She shrugged, "Here as in your office, or here as in New York?" she hoped it wouldn't be the latter because she had no idea how to explain that one, especially to someone she had just met.

He lett out a laugh at her reply, "I didn't knew I needed to specify, both then."

She almost groaned at that but easily hid it. "Well I saw your add for an assistant and as you have read on my resume I have experience in that department. I was looking for a job and your company stood out because of the new project you're working on. I think that that software could change things and it made me interested-"

She lost Stefan's attention and she noticed how his eyes were locked on the door. She turned her head and noticed a man with dark hair and bright blue eyes leaning against it. When he caught her looking at him her threw her a wink. "That's nice blondie, but we read that already in your letter. You're not here to recite that thing for us, tell us something that we don't know about you." While he was talking he walked inside Stefan's office and leaned against the desk successfully blocking her view of Stefan.

She tried to look around him, to catch Stefan's eye again but the man was moving with her blocking all her attempts just staring at her, waiting for an answer. When she tried again she huffed and finally met his stare, "Would you mind?" she spat at him and he chuckled in response.

"Mind what?" he asked and she shot him a glare.

"Could you move?" she tried again and she was almost grateful when he nodded.

"Of course I can," he let a pause fall, "I'm just not going to."

She let a curse fall which should probably embarrass here, seeing the position she was in but this guy was really tempting her patient and ruining her interview as well. She wasn't going to mess up another one and when she caught his smug smile she huffed, "Fine then I'll make you."

She could hear a genuine chuckle leave his lips, he clearly didn't see her as a threat. Why would he, a young blonde in a black pencil skirt and a blouse, meeting for an administrative job. Not a scary sight. "I would like to see you tr-"

Before the words had left his lips her three years of self-defense training kicked in, she had muscled her strength and pushed him sideways. He hadn't anticipated her move so he actually stumbled a few feet aside, almost losing his balance in the process. It did finally cleared the path between her and Stefan and she didn't miss his amused smile. "So where were we?" she asked him and he grinned.

"Well clearly you can hold yourself against my brother. And here I thought the biggest challenge would be finding someone that could manage herself around him."

Caroline ran over the words, "Your- your brother." She had just assaulted on of the two people deciding whether or not she should be hired... Great move Care. Just excellent.

The man had grabbed another chair and placed himself beside her, "The much sexier brother, Damon Salvatore," he winked at her and she wanted to cringe.

"Are all men in New York creeps?" she muttered under her breath but from the raised eyebrows of both Stefan and Damon she hadn't exactly been quiet.

"I do apologize for my brother," Stefan said, trying to salvage the damage. He couldn't have her refuse them, Klaus wouldn't be happy, not at all.

Damon rolled his eyes, "I was perfectly polite, you're just jealous that she didn't try to wrap her hands around you. I can't help it that girls like me more than you."

Caroline turned towards him, "Do you have that problem often?" she asked and when he looked confused she continued, "Confusing interest with disgust."

Both brother chuckled at her and they shared a look, "Okay so clearly you're not just a pretty face that can pick up our phones. But I was serious, is there more to you than what you wrote in that letter or is that all?"

Caroline thought about it, no way was she going to share anything personal about herself, why would she? So she mustered up the best answer she could think of. "Can you describe anyone on just a piece of paper? Yes there's more to me but that doesn't mean that I share that information with just anyone." They looked confused at that so she tried to explain, "I just moved to New York and I just want to forget about everything back home now, to answer why I'm in New York," she told Stefan.

He nodded at her and to her surprise the rest of the interview went actually very smooth, they told her about their plans and she told them some more about the things she had done. She even ended up helping them pack for another hour and when she found it time to leave they actually handed her the contract, and even better, she ended up signing it. Sure Damon was going to be annoying at times but he wasn't all bad, he did back of after she stood her ground and it made her wonder how Monday would go.

Before she left she remembered that she hadn't asked about the new building yet, specifically where it would be and Stefan and Damon looked at each other after that shortly. "Why, why don't I email you that information tomorrow. We still have to go over some details so we don't know everything yet either." The answer sounded vague but she let it pass. She just wanted to go home and celebrate with Katherine. She had a job, finally!

* * *

Klaus knew that Caroline would have her meeting with Stefan around noon. He had told him that much and Klaus wouldn't admit it but ever since, he had been checking his phone every few minutes to see if he had a message informing her of how it went. Of course hiring Caroline had been one of the new terms of the contract but they had agreed that Stefan had the option to deter from hiring her if he found her unsuitable.

He knew that there was no way that Stefan would come to that conclusion so he felt safe in his decision. But right now he found himself growing nervous, it has been almost two hours since Caroline would have met up with them, surely they could at least inform him of what had happened? Because if this plan failed he had to come up with something else and with Audrey around on his brother's demand, he couldn't just try to get her hired. He had said that the job was hers, and it still was, it would just be more complicated this way.

Finally his phone rang and he saw Stefan's name flash over the screen. He answered the call, "How did it went?" he asked and was greeted by Stefan's chuckle.

"Great, she was fun to have around and we hired her," Klaus smiled at that, he knew it would work. There was no way Stefan would have refused the beautiful blonde that could bring a smile on anyone's face.

"Good, and you haven't told her?" Klaus asked, he needed to know for sure that Caroline was still unaware of his involvement.

"Yeah we haven't mentioned you and didn't gave her the address yet either. We'll send it to her later this weekend."

"Good," he had been clear in that matter, afraid that Caroline would refuse the brothers offer the second she heard that she had to work in his building. He couldn't have that. "Just keep your brother in check around her."

Stefan laughed out loud at that and Klaus looked at his phone in confusion, what had amused him so much?

"I don't think you have to worry about that, Damon stopped by earlier and it seemed like you were right when you told me she could handle herself around him."

Klaus looked up intrigued at the words, wondering what had passed between Damon and Caroline, "You sound very certain."

"Well I can't really do it just by explaining, but let's just say that Damon was being annoying and she gives quite a strong push."

Klaus smiled at that, he thought back to the first time he saw her, when he helped her out. He had fled because he didn't want to be seen as a savior, but maybe she hadn't need one. The more he discovered about Caroline Forbes, the more he started to suspect that she could take care of herself.

"You know you never ended up explaining to me why you wanted us to hire her that bad, but I think I understand now." Stefan told him and Klaus looked up in surprise.

"And why's that?" he asked wondering what Stefan thought to know.

"Well she's a pretty special girl."

"Yeah, she really is," Klaus admitted to him. Of course he had known so already, not many people refused him, not in business and definitely not sexually. That she was special was nothing new to him. Still he was glad that Stefan had noticed as well, at least this way she would have the job she needed so bad as well.

He and Stefan finished up their conversation and Klaus went back to his inbox. Caroline still hadn't reacted on any of his texts. He opened the last one he had send to her last night.

**Have sweet dreams, sweetheart. I know I will. K**

He hadn't expected her to reply, not really. But still a reaction would have been nice. Even a "Leave me alone," would do at this point. He just found himself needing to hear more from her, about her, what was it about her that intrigued him that much?  
Was he really that desperate for a challenge that he got this obsessed with her so soon? Apparently he was.

* * *

As expected Katherine was ecstatic when she heard about Caroline's good news. Of course she had made a joke about her finally being able to pay rent now as well, but Katherine was right, she had helped her out a lot these past weeks and hopefully she could start repaying her when she had her first paycheck. For now her wallet was still empty and she wouldn't receive the next bit of her severance pay on Monday on it's earliest.

So when Katherine told her they were going to Trevor's she wasn't especially happy but it was Katherine's day off and she wanted to celebrate. Besides, apparently she had called Elijah and Caroline didn't want her to reschedule for her. So in the end she complied.

She even got changed, not wanting to wear the tight skirt longer than needed and went with a simple yellow wrap dress. She braided her hair together, promising herself that first thing she would do when she got her check would be to buy a new hair curler and retouched her make up.

Unlike last time she actually put a little effort in how she looked and she did liked what she saw, she knew it had only been a bit over a month but getting over Tyler was easier than she had expected. He had been her longest relationship and she never got a real ending, still she seemed to adapt easily.

When they arrived at Trevor's it was pretty crowded and she could see Bonnie behind the bar, clearly better from her virus. They waved at each other before Katherine could pull her with her, she moved to a table in the corner of the bar and Caroline noticed two men already sitting there. Katherine sat down on the one side next to Elijah, leaving one seat open next to someone who hadn't looked at her yet. She couldn't get a read on him but he looked vaguely familiar.

Then he looked up and their eyes locked. A wicked grin crossed over his face when he took her in and he pulled out her chair for her. "Please sit," he whispered while he was still behind her.

She blushed at his forwardness but ignored it, she got a curious glare from Katherine but ignored that one as well. She did notice the tray of shots in front of them and definitely didn't ignore those. She grabbed one of the tray and drained the glass in one gulp, she had a feeling she would need it.

* * *

Klaus woke up the next morning and he stretched before he sat up looking around for the sound that had woke him up. He found the device, his phone's constant beeping and he noticed he had three missed calls from Kol. What could be so important that he had to call him at -he checked the time- three in the morning.

There was no way he was going to return those calls but he noticed the new messages as well and opened them, hoping they would clarify his brother's action. He was just having a good dream about a certain blonde and now he couldn't even finish it, he hadn't missed the irony on the matter but pushed that aside.

He opened the first message that was send by Kol around midnight:

**You should come at Trevor's, me and Elijah are here and we're having a lot of fun! -K**

Klaus rolled his eyes, well that explained the late calls, Kol was bloody wasted. He did check the other messaged though. The second one was send a couple of minutes later.

**You're really missing something here. -K**

A picture was added to that one and he could see two women doing shots, one dark haired and one blonde. He was immediately awake, he knew that blonde. What had Kol been doing near Caroline? Hadn't he made himself clear? She was off-limits!

Quickly he opened the third message, wanting to know what had happened next.

**Since you're silent and not objecting, I assume your okay with me and Caroline fucking. Thanks for understanding that you can't expect her to deny this body. -K**

Klaus growled when he read that text. There were still two texts, both send at least an hour later and he hated to admit that he wanted to know what was written in them.

**Now I get why you wantd to keep her to yurself. She tasts glorius.**

This one was clearly send a few drinks later and Klaus gripped his phone tight. No! His brother didn't meant what he just... He had fucking told him that he needed to stay away from Caroline and what did his brother do! He couldn't believe that his brother would do this, but at the same time he really could. He didn't want to open the next text but he needed to know more, about what had happened between Kol and Caroline. What had he missed because of his need for sleep, if only he had caught Kol's earlier message than he could have stopped this.

The last message had no text, it was another picture taken from close by. Kol had probably taken it himself and the quality was okay at best but he could still make out the figures in it. Kol and Caroline, his lips on hers and a drunken smile on both their faces. In anger he threw away his phone.

He had it all planned, he knew how he could get under her skin enough for her to give in to him. He already knew there was some sexual chemistry between the two of them and with her mad and single it would be just a matter of time before she gave into him in the heat of the moment. He had counted on that. But no his brother had ruined everything, if he would continue this way he would push her away and straight into Kol's arms instead! Because if he knew one thing about his brother was that he wouldn't let her go now. He was going to make a game of it and this changed it all.

* * *

**Now I'm going in hiding. I'm blaming everyone that told me that they liked Kol for that ending :P  
**

**No seriously the next chapter will be last night in Trevor's and will end up with a weird phonecall...  
It should be up on Sunday! **

**As always thank you for reading and please if you have questions or requests, you can always leave a review and tell me, or send me a PM. Also who's going to run into problems with Klaus first... Damon or Kol?**


	13. Chapter 13

**For everyone who called me evil after last chapter... I'm sorry I hope this chapter will make it a bit better... or worse. I really don't know but it's (un)lucky number thirteen :**

**Thank you for all the reviews and new followers/favorites after last chapter. I know letting you wait was cruel and I hope you accept my apologies!**

**Kol and Caroline in this chapter so everyone who came to a conclusion after last chapter, find out if you were right ;)**

* * *

**Chapter 13**

"_Please sit," he whispered while he was still behind her._

_She blushed at his forwardness but ignored it, she got a curious glare from Katherine but ignored that one as well. She did notice the tray of shots in front of them and definitely didn't ignore those. She grabbed one of the tray and drained the glass in one gulp, she had a feeling she would need it._

Elijah was quick to introduce everyone at the table, starting with Katherine, followed by his brother Kol and ending with her. When Kol was introduced as Elijah's brother she couldn't hold back a snort, now that she got a good look at him she could definitely see some resemblance with Elijah. Not as much with Klaus though but from the smirk still painted on Kol's face their resemblance was more in character. She groaned, this should be a fun night.

After Kol's introduction Elijah had moved on to her but before Elijah could speak a word Kol interrupted him, "Caroline, yes I know. We spoke on the phone earlier this week."

Caroline raised an eyebrow at him in confusion, "We have?" she asked and realized when she had just as he spoke the words.

"Miss Forbes, I can't believe you've forgotten. Do you hang up on handsome strangers inviting you over for an interview so often that you can't remember me?" From the corners of her eyes she could see Katherine grinning at Kol's word and she shot her friend a glare.

"Yeah that wasn't my finest moment..." she confessed and hoped that someone would steer the conversation into a different direction.

"You seem to have a lot of those with my family members," Kol continued and Caroline felt her cheeks heat, there was no way he was alluding to his brother no was he... But then again he probably was.

"What makes you think so?" Caroline asked intrigued, she leaned a bit closer to Kol and lowered her voice glad to see that Katherine had pulled Elijah in another conversation. Whatever Kol knew, she was sure of it that he wouldn't be subtle about it and she didn't want anyone to hear about what she had done. Not unless she told them.

"Well I just recall you rushing past me after your "talk" with Klaus. I must say you did look particularly scrumptious with your skirt still bunched up." He looked down to catch a sight of her legs, "I must say you have great legs," he reached out his hands towards the hem of her skirt but Caroline snapped out of her surprise and embarrassment. She couldn't believe that Kol had caught her leaving like that but if he meant that that meant she was easy he was wrong.

She noticed his hand moving under the table and caught it trailing towards her legs, she quickly got her hands gripped on his and slammed them back on the table with a loud thud, the sound breaking up Katherine and Elijah out of their conversation.

They looked at them in surprise, Katherine noticed the way her hands are wrapped around Kol's and how she keeps them pressed against the table. She notices Kol's bewildered face and looks up at hers, probably taking up her flushed face and trying to determine whether it's from anger or embarrassment. She's not sure what the cause it but for now she doesn't have the best impression of the Mikaelson brothers. Why do they all feel the need to touch her without invitation... well not all of them, there's Elijah but he's too focused on Katherine to notice any female passing by.

She noticed how all eyes were on her and quickly released Kol's hand. He rubbed his hand over his wrist, making a show of it like she had actually hurt him but she was certain that she saw some respect in his eyes.

"Maybe we should talk in another booth?" he offered and she was quick to shake her head.

"There's no way I'm going to be alone with you after what you just tried to pull," she retorted and he actually grinned.

He looked over at Katherine and Elijah who still looked over at them every few seconds but were otherwise engaged in a conversation and said, "Look I just want to talk, and maybe we should let these two be alone for awhile."

She looked over at the pair and noticed Katherine shooting her a quick glance, she shot her a reassuring smile and turned back to Kol, "Fine, but if you try anything!" she pushed her finger against his chest and noticed how his smile remained.

"You will threaten and hurt me appropriately?" he offered and she nodded. "Good, at least now I can understand why my brother is so obsessed with you." With that he moved to another table and Caroline looked at him stunned. What did Kol know about his brother's "obsession" towards her? She quickly followed, intrigued to learn what the other man could tell her, but never denying Klaus' so called obsession.

"So what was it you wanted to talk with me about?" she asked him direct and he actually looked slightly uncomfortable. She found it odd since he wanted to have this conversation in the first place.

"Okay before I'm going to get slapped I want to make two things clear, firstly it was stupid and childish and secondly we called it off after you, well actually because of you I guess."

Caroline looked at him in confusion, called of what? What did she have to do with this and how was she the reason? She had no clue to what Kol was talking about and he seemed to recognize her confusion. "I should have waited until you had more drinks in you. But then again I wasn't planning on telling you..."

"Then what were you planning to do?" Caroline wondered, catching up on Kol's words. Clearly him being here wasn't coincidental.

He shrugged, "Seduce you and rub it in my brother's face," he bluntly stated and she looked at him in disgust.

"You were trying to do what?!" she exclaimed and slapped him in the face.

Kol rubbed the spot that she hit and looked at her in appreciation. "I guess I deserved that," he said and she nodded back.

"Wait if that was your plan... Why change your mind?" she asked and he looked at her sheepishly.

"Okay this is the part that's going to get me another slap. Klaus and I had a bet and I thought he won, but after you refused me that easily... It made me realize that I made a wrong assumption."

"And that made you want to tell me?" Caroline asked, lost on what was going on but certain that it wouldn't be good.

"I thought you deserved to know," he said but she could read from his smirk that there was more than honesty behind it.

"That's not the whole reason."

"Why would you think so?" Kol asked, "Can't you believe this handsome face?"

Caroline scoffed, "Please, you want something out of this. I just don't know what yet..."

Kol looked up and smiled, "Well maybe we can both get something out of this."

He told her about the bet that they had made earlier that week and how Klaus had called it off after her. How he told Kol that he wanted to hire her which surprised her but now that she knew of his need of a challenge made sense a lot more as well. He just traded one challenge in for another but she wouldn't give in that easily.

When he finished his story she got called back by Katherine for another round of shots, she looked back at Kol and back to Katherine. "You know what," she said before she stood up, "If we're going to continue this tale, I will need more alcohol."

She walked back towards Elijah and Katherine and she and her friends did a couple of shots before she returned to her table assuring Katherine that she was fine and just wanted to give the two of them some privacy. When she returned to her table she noticed Kol putting his phone back into his pocket and she wondered who he had been texting. Still it wasn't any of her business so she let it rest.

She sat back in her seat and there was one question that bothered her, "So Klaus told you that he had sex with me?"

Kol thought about it for a minute before he answered, "I kinda came to that conclusion after I saw you leave, he just never denied it," he confessed and Caroline was relieved to find out that Klaus wasn't spreading false rumors around. Unfortunately bringing up that moment brought up a question for Kol as well.

"Clearly you haven't, if you had fucked him there was no way you would have denied me. I'm much hotter." Kol stated and she rolled her eyes at him, cocky bastard runs in the family apparently. "But I did see the state you were in when you left, and the impression you left on my brother. What did happen?"

Caroline shook her head, "That's one tale that you will never hear."

He pouted at her, "Just give me a hint, you kissed." No reaction, "Blowjob," she made a face and he smirked, "Not that then, well I know you didn't sleep with him," he laughed in realization, "You jerked him off." Caroline paled and he saw that as confirmation, he leaned forward and whispered low, "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me."

"Like your brother's was?" she shot back.

He shrugged, "We're brothers, we're allowed to change sides now and then as long as we're together for the important stuff." Caroline could hear that there was more to that but let it rest.

"I can't believe that bastard," she cursed under her breath. "So that was why he wanted to hire me, to get me and win that stupid bet for real."

"Well technically neither of us won," he actually looked sad about that and she was quick to remember him that she hadn't forgotten about his part in it.

"Maybe you can help me, to make up for your part..." she offered and the wheels in her head started turning.

Kol smiled smugly, "I was hoping for that, I already started a plan in motion." He grabbed his phone and showed her the texts and picture he had sent to Klaus. "He'll get mad and will probably try to kill but it will be worth it."

She smiled at him, the texts were tame but Kol seemed to know his brother and if he believed that this would upset Klaus... well it could be a start of her revenge. She didn't like to be part of some game but now that she was, she was quick to learn the rules. "So Klaus would hate to think that something happened between us right?" she asked and Kol nodded at that. She grabbed his phone and wrote another text before pressing on send. "You could have been more explicit," she explained and showed him the text.

**Since you're silent and not objecting, I assume your okay with me and Caroline fucking. Thanks for understanding that you can't expect her to deny this body. -K**

Kol looked at her astounded, "Caroline Forbes, you're an evil genius." She caught his surprise at the text, it was something he would totally say and he hadn't expected her to capture that so fast.

"Sometimes alluding to something isn't enough," she said and they conspired together some more. It was a few drinks later and a discussion about how to get Katherine and Elijah to finally kiss that Kol came to an idea. He dragged her back to the table and joined the couple, their voice were mere whispers and she felt bad for coming between the two of them but Kol could be quite demanding when he wanted to be.

He emptied his beer bottle and put it on the table, "Spin the bottle," he stated and he was greeted with silence and incredulous expressions. "Oh come one, we all get only one turn." Caroline could see him start to pout but she also noticed his eyes locked on Katherine and Elijah, he wanted to force them to lock lips even if it was for a game. Well maybe it would help them realize that they weren't getting just friends...

"Fine I'm in," she sighed and Katherine caught her gaze and agreed as well. Elijah tried to refuse, saying that he was to old for juvenile games but finally agreed for one round as well.

Elijah got the first spin and it landed on Kol, since they were related they decided it didn't count and he got another try. Unfortunately this one didn't land on Katherine either, instead Caroline got lucky. She felt a bit uncomfortable and realized that she should have anticipated the fact that he could have spun bad as well. Luckily Elijah kissed her quickly on her cheek and she caught the relieved look from Katherine. Kol wanted too object about the kiss but he got outvoted.

Next was Caroline and she spun Katherine, they pecked each other quickly on the mouth, making no big deal of it and ignoring Kol's howlers. Katherine got the next spin and it slowed down when it passed Kol, then Caroline and finally came to a stop in front of Katherine. Caroline hadn't realized she held her breath but let it out while she demanded another spin. Katherine complied and this time it finally stopped in front of someone. Right in the middle between her and Elijah. She groaned when she noticed it pointed more in her direction. "That's not fair, me and Katherine already kissed," she pushed the bottle more towards Elijah and grinned, "That seems fair."

She could feel Katherine throw daggers into her direction but ignored them. She would thank her later. They both leaned in and she noticed Elijah moving into the direction of Katherine's cheek but seemed to change his mind halfway. Their lips locked and she could hear Kol counting next to her, "Three, Four, Five," she looked up in confusion. "Ten seconds and going," he told her and gave her a high five. They looked back to the pair and Katherine had seemed to forego her own chair for Elijah's lap.

"We should find another table..." Caroline offered, she should have seen that part coming.

"I'm fine with the show," Kol said smirking at his success and she let out a giggle. She couldn't believe they were being this childish but it felt freeing to just let lose and have some fun. Maybe it was the alcohol talking, maybe it was her. She didn't know but she grabbed Kol's phone, kissed him on the lips and quickly snapped a picture. When he looked confused she shrugged. "You still had your spin and I'm the only one left."

He quirked an eyebrow, "And the picture?"

She sported a devilishly smile, "Evidence."

Kol smirked and wrote another text to his brother, adding the picture later as well. They parted ways a little after, Elijah kissed Katherine on her cheek when he left and Caroline knew she would have to interrogate her friend about what was going on later. She liked Elijah but she knew about Katherine's walls... Hopefully she would let him in, he seemed good for her.

* * *

Klaus' phone laid at the edge of his room and he didn't feel like getting up and being confronted with that sight again. He wanted to call Kol, yell at him, find Caroline and demand answers, why refuse him only to give in to his brother... But he knew he had no right to ask those questions.

He had to face the truth. He was no one to Caroline and he knew absolutely nothing about her. Sure he was intrigued by her behavior, found her incredibly beautiful and wanted to get to know her but that gave him no right to demand her to be his.

He knew he would have to do this different but wasn't it all just a challenge... what did it matter anyway? He let himself fall back in his bed falling back asleep when his head hit the pillow with one last thought. She mattered. Somehow she had made herself matter for him.

He woke up the next morning with the thoughts of the night before still whirling through his head. He needed to distract himself but there was nothing that could. He needed answers, that was the only way so he crawled out of his, searched for his phone and dialed Kol's number. He knew it was early and that his brother was probably still nursing a hangover, still sound asleep but he had disrupted his rest, he was only returning the favor...

"Hello," he heard a tired voice on the other side of the line and he smiled at that. Good Kol didn't deserve the rest.

"Kol," he said and he could hear some background noises on Kol's side of the line. He caught himself searching for a female voice in there but if Caroline was with his brother, she stayed silent.

"Klaus why are you calling this early?"

Klaus chuckled at that, "Funny. That was exactly what I was wondering when you woke me up with one of your phone calls last night."

He could hear Kol yawn at the other side, "Oh about that, can we talk later? I really need some painkillers before you're going to yell at me." Before he could object Kol had canceled the call and when he dialed again he was instantly greeted by his brother's voice mail. He left a short angry message but knew he had to wait for now. If his brother was determined not to listen to him he wouldn't get through to him in the first place.

He distracted himself with work the rest of the day, finishing reports and checking proposals until he finally got a call back from his brother.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Kol asked innocently.

"What did I tell you about Caroline being off-limits?" Klaus snarled and he could hear Kol chuckle on the other side.

"So possessive brother, really have some faith in the girl. She has a sensible head, perfectly capable of making decisions on her own."

"You're just taking advantage of her," Klaus bit back.

"You think Caroline is someone you can take advantage of?" Kol taunted, "It seems to me that she's perfectly capable of taking care of herself."

He couldn't protest to that, Caroline's capability to take care of herself was one of her attributes that he and Stefan had talked about the day before. It was something they had admired and he knew Kol was right. Caroline could take care of herself and if she made a stupid decision regarding Kol... well then that was her decision.

"Just leave her alone," he tried one more time.

"Only if you do," Kol smiled when he heard no response on Klaus' side, "Since it sounds like you're not planning on that... I guess Caroline can find company wherever she seeks."

They ended the call, both disagreeing with the other but not willing to fight over a girl. Kol smiled when it had ended though. It seemed that he and Caroline had been right in their assumption. Klaus wouldn't just back of but now it was their turn to play. Kol could insinuate whatever he wanted that had happened between him and Caroline and Klaus would believe so. He knew his brother well enough to know that this would make him think about what he was doing. Maybe it wouldn't stop him from chasing Caroline but maybe it would make him realize why he was chasing her. Now that he had met her he knew why his brother was so infatuated. She was different from any girl he had ever been with and since none of those turned out well... That was a great thing.

* * *

It was around two when Caroline's phone rang loudly from an incoming call and begrudgingly she accepted. A second too late she realized that she forgot to check the display screen for the caller but when she heard a pleasant female voice she realized her worries were ungrounded.

"Good morning this is Kirstin Shears I'm calling you about your interview this Thursday with Mr. Mikaelson." Caroline looked at her phone in confusion. Why would anyone want to hear about that interview.

"Uhm can I know why you're calling me?" she asked hoping for answers.

"Yes we have it on record that you had an interview this Thursday and we're looking around to see reactions on the interview from the applicants. Since none of them got hired you know, we're just trying to find out if there's anything that should be changed about our process."

Caroline let out a laugh at that, "Yeah change the boss," she said amused.

"Why would you say that?" Kirstin asked and Caroline rolled her ass.

"Have you met him?" she questioned the girl.

"Yes I have," Kirstin answered and there was something in her voice that Caroline couldn't pinpoint. It sounded admirable but there was anger in there as well and something else... Whatever it was Caroline couldn't name it, not this early, not with just two aspirins in her system. She still nursed a major headache.

"Well then you should know. He's an ass," realizing that the girl probably had to write a report about this she voiced it differently, "What I mean is that there's no way I'm working for a man like that so we were just a bad fit."

"I see," Kirstin seemed lost in thought for a moment, "Would you mind if I called you back later, I have one other applicant to talk to before I can come to a conclusion."

"Sorry, I said everything I'm going to. I'm sure I won't be of any help anyway."

She could hear Kirstin wanting to protest but seemed to change her mind. "That's fine, if you ever change your mind. You have my number now, you can always call."

She ended the call and Caroline saved the number automatically, she walked back towards the living room and looked at Katherine's closed door. They probably needed to talk...

* * *

**I'm not totally happy about this chapter... but remember there was plenty of alcohol involved. I don't know...**

**Sorry I know that was very little Klaus but just not that much was going on in his day... Next chapter will have Caroline-Katherine and then the first day of work!**

**I want to wish everyone an early Merry Christmas. Since I have a Birthday tomorrow and Christmas celebrations the days after I'm afraid I can't update before Thursday on it's earliest. That would mean it was a month since I started as well so that would be nice...  
****I do hope everyone has a great time celebrating their holidays!**

**Thank you for reading!x**


	14. Chapter 14

**Ugh it felt like I haven't updated in ages, was it really only four days ago? Well either way with Christmas and Birtdays and celebrations the extra days were kinda needed so thank you for everyone who waited patiently for this chapter.**

**I hope everyone had a great Christmas, and for those that don't celebrate, a great day.** **Thank you to** klaroline4everlove** for being my 150th review. I can't believe I reached that amount already! It's been a month since I started this story and I know I have to wrap a few things up before I can move on. I'm sorry if some storylines seem hasty but I need to get to a point where I can skip a little bit of time...**

**Either way here is the chapter and I do hope you'll enjoy it**

* * *

**Chapter 14**

Caroline entered Katherine's room with a mug filled with coffee and a healthy amount of painkillers in her hands, with the rate they had been drinking last night her friend would need it. She nudged Katherine's side until the girl woke up and silently handed her the hot mug. Katherine looked grateful for a moment but her smile brightened when she noticed the painkillers that she held.

She eagerly grabbed the pack from her hands and swallowed a few with her coffee. Caroline gave her a few minutes to wake up and let the medicine tame her headache before she started her apology. "I'm sorry that Kol and I tricked you and Elijah into kissing."

Katherine smiled but it didn't reach her eyes. "It's fine, it's not like I didn't enjoy kissing him. Besides we could have just touched lips for a second, you guys didn't force us to continue. We wanted that ourselves."

Caroline sighed, "So you're okay with this?"

"With what exactly?" Katherine wondered before she took another sip of her coffee.

"With being with Elijah," Caroline tried carefully.

"I'm not with Elijah," Katherine stated but she didn't miss the wishful sound of it, "We just kissed. Lots of people kiss."

"But you like him, for more than just kissing if the way you two keep talking is something to go of from."

"So I like him. That doesn't mean he likes me too," she wanted to protest but stayed silent after noticing Katherine's glare, "Even if he did, you know I don't want a relationship. Not after Mystic Falls."

"You've had relationships in New York. You've talked about them before," Caroline protested, shaking her head.

"No I had sex, nothing intimate. But with Elijah... I'm afraid that that could turn into something like that," Katherine's voice grew softer, "I don't think I'm ready for that. Besides why would he want me. I'm damaged," Katherine whispered and Caroline moved in to hold her friend.

"No one is telling you to have a relationship, but does Elijah know about the reasons why you're so against them?"

Katherine shook her head, "It has never come up."

"So bring it up," she tried, "Let him get to know you before you decide that he won't want you anyway."

"But what if he denies me after I open up. Caroline I can barely talk about this with you and you're the only one that knows everything about this! I can't just tell him this..." Katherine looked at her with sadness, "besides how do I bring this up?"

She sighed, "I don't know Kat, but I think that if anyone will understand and let you explain it will be Elijah."

"So you think I should tell him about Brandon?" Katherine asked carefully biting back a sob.

"I think if you don't, you're only going to use it as an excuse as to why you two can never happen. I know you're just getting to know each other but would you prefer it if you were growing closer, actually falling for each other and then having to tell him. If you're afraid he won't want you after you tell him now already, wouldn't it be worse it that happens later on."

"So you think that it will get out anyway? Better tell him now?" Katherine said seeking reassurance.

"I don't... This is something you've carried around for five years, don't you want to be able to leave it behind you?" Caroline said and winced at her choice of words.

"This isn't something I can just leave behind me Caroline! It's something that's been taken from me. I can't forget about that," Katherine snapped at her and she quickly apologized.

"That came out wrong, I'm sorry. Look Kat I've never been through this so I can't act like I know how you feel, I just don't want this to keep you from going forwards, especially not now that you've find someone that seems to want something real. Does that sounds like a bad thing?"

Katherine shook her head and Caroline noticed the tears streaming over her cheeks, "I'm sorry for bringing this up... I shouldn't have."

"No, you're right. I need to be able to talk about this and if I want even the smallest chance with Elijah he should know. Just give me a few more days to build up the courage," Katherine said with a brave smile on her face, she wiped away the tear stains on her cheeks and they smiled at each others.

She knew Katherine could do this, no one but her had ever listened to Kat's story not even her family, hopefully Elijah would give her that chance.

It was six in the morning when Caroline awoke and the first thing she did was finding her laptop. She had realized too late last night that she hadn't checked her email for the new address but after reminiscing with Katherine about their past and eating a lot of greasy food -so far for eating healthy that week- to settle their upset stomaches it hadn't come up. It wasn't until later that evening that Katherine had reminded her about her new work place but she hadn't cared enough to look it up, she had decided to check it in the morning and right now she was happy she had.

Because if she had seen this yesterday before sleeping... she would certainly not have fallen asleep anytime soon. She knew that address, had been there not that many days before and it was the one place in New York that she wanted to avoid. How big was the chance that from all offices in New York City, the only place the Salvatores could find was in the same building as the one of Klaus Mikaelson. She groaned, just her luck.

Well luckily it was a big building and he had no idea she was here, besides after the texts and pictures she and Kol had sent his way she doubted he would look for her again. He had lost his challenge, believed his brother to have won her over so he should leave her be now.

She and Kol had talked it over in Trevor's, Klaus wanted her because of the bet and because he thought he couldn't have her. Believing that his brother had already gotten to her first wouldn't make her that tempting anymore, less pure, less of a challenge.

It was fine with her, she didn't care what Klaus thought of her, if he believed her to have a dirty one nightstand with his brother... Well what did it matter to her, he only saw her as a challenge and she didn't need that in her life.

The Mikaelson Global might have been a huge building but when Caroline looked at the office maps she noticed how the Salvatores where situated at the same floor as the CEO's office. She found it odd that from all places not another floor had been availavle but didn't let it disturb her, if everything had gone well he shouldn't pay her any attention. He didn't know about her being there and he had nothing to do with the Salvatores so she didn't expect to run into him there either. She just had to move stealthy.

She walked past reception and noticed a different receptionist than last time, Audrey probably started later, bringing her son to school beforehand or something like that.

She entered the elevator and pressed the right floor, bracing herself for a quick entrance on the floor and to hurry to the correct offices. The doors closed slowly and just before they were fully closed a hand stopped them, the doors opened again and the new figure entered the elevator standing next to her.

She looked up in shock, so much for him not finding out. Of all the places where they could run into each other, why an elevator which doors had just closed behind him. Trapped with Klaus Mikaelson in a small confined space for, she didn't know for how long exactly but she was highly aware of his eyes running over her form.

"Caroline," he said as a greeting and she noticed his lack of surprise for being her. Perhaps Elijah or Kol had mentioned it around him already?

"Mr. Mikaelson," she nodded at him, refusing to call him Klaus, she wasn't going to become personal with him. To her satisfaction he didn't get any closer to her after that. They stayed silent and waited until the elevator reached the top floor.

Klaus let her walk ahead and when she turned right he chuckled at her. "That way is my office, where you as you know are more then welcome but for the Salvatores you have to go left."

Caroline bit back her retort, it wouldn't help to have an argument with him on her first day here, she just had to avoid him at all cost. She walked left and when she noticed the offices with boxes piled up high she knew she found the right place.

* * *

Klaus hadn't forgotten that today would mark Caroline's first day of work, on Saturday he had arranged for the Salvatores to be moved to his floor, making it easier for him to approach her but also to go over the plans with Stefan and Damon. Now after he knew of his brother's action he wasn't sure if that was a smart move.

Could he still pursue Caroline knowing that she had been with his brother? He used to laugh at triangles like that and was in no need to be in one of them, they seemed ridiculous to him in the first place. Family went before all, a girl shouldn't be able to get between that. He just needed to get the girl out of his system, than he would be done.

That's what he liked to believe, but standing beside her, this close by in the elevator and her speaking to him so formally made him realize that she wouldn't allow that to happen. He could try to make her a game and continue to pursue her strongly, or he could be patient and wait for her to come to him.

He let his eyes roam over her figure, about the tight fabric that showed of her form. He had to admit, he preferred the dress she had worn on Thursday but she seemed to be one of those women that looked delectable in whatever they wore. He wanted to give her a compliment but he could see how she was trying her hardest to ignore him, he decided to indulge her and stayed silent as well.

Caroline seemed like a stubborn little thing and that amused him, she was headstrong and tried not to show how she really felt, he had read those things of her quickly after their first encounter and conversations. It showed in the way she was observing the elevator doors instead of glancing in his direction, not even for a second did she look away from the door and when they opened she was quick to walk out and make her turn. He chuckled when he noticed her direction and decided to speak up, "That way is my office, where you as you know are more then welcome but for the Salvatores you have to go left."

He hadn't been able to resist the little quip, she shot him a glare and quickly turned around, Klaus looked at her before she turned the corner and entered his office. Whether having Caroline this close would prove to be a good idea or a bad one... It was too late now, she was here.

Audrey was already at his desk when he came in, handing him a cup of coffee and the planning for that day. When Elijah had told him that she had experience beside being their receptionist he hadn't expected much but at least she seemed to be punctual and had his stuff organized, that was better than Rebekah had done in those few days she had helped him.

He looked at his planning and noticed how Audrey had put herself on the list, **11:30 Meeting with Audrey Cobb**. Klaus turned back to the woman who had scheduled the appointment and pointed to the bullet while he addressed her, "What's this?" he demanded to know. He had a busy day and had not time to waste by talking to his assistant.

"That's me, wanting to go over a few of your future commitments and arrange some of our arrangements."

"I didn't know we had any arrangements to discuss."

"There's a lot of work here that has been neglected for over a week, I think we should discuss which have priority and what you like me to do, unless you preferred if I just assign myself my own tasks," Audrey said without losing eye contact.

Klaus realized something about her, Audrey might have just been a receptionist and still just in her thirties, she was also not afraid to take initiative in her job. He could use that because he didn't want to have to tell her what to do every time, so what would a few minutes of his time now be in comparison to a couple every day. "Fine, just don't expect us to do this regularly."

Audrey turned back to her desk, "I wouldn't want that," the phone rand and she was fast to answer it almost dismissing Klaus in the process. That was different, and quite coincidentally exactly what he needed in an assistant. He hadn't wanted one of those girls that relied on him, someone that he had to steer into the right direction but most importantly with the exception of Caroline, he hadn't wanted to talk about what he did with any of them.

At least Audrey gave him that peace, focusing on her job and only asking him about how she could better her part. He wanted to be left alone and until he had Caroline, Audrey could be of use to him.

Meeting with Audrey had been easier than expected, she had only wanted to go through the future events and deadlines and make sure the itinerary was correct. After that there were her own chores that she wanted to categorize but he reassured her that as long as she could change whatever Rebekah had done with the files on the computer it would be good for now.

Rebekah had managed to delete several maps of their clients and they were all scattered in different ones now. Audrey's job was to retrieve them and organize them back correctly, he had assumed he would need someone from ICT to help with that but she assured him she could work it, she just needed some time and he could grant her that for now.

The last part on her list was the search for the new offices for the Salvatores, Klaus stated that they had just arrived and were still busy unpacking, it would be cruel to let them move again so she could start looking but it had not priority yet. Not for a little while at least. He had to see how things were going before he made his decision about that. He knew he had to make one soon but he couldn't do it without considering all sides.

She had also reminded him that the benefit for the Museum and his company would be in a little over a month and they would have to deliver their ads in two weeks at the latest. He grabbed his art concept and scratched his piece. Of course he had known about that, the stupid concept was haunting him and he couldn't understand why he couldn't finish it. He never had trouble with his art, not before, but now he wasn't satisfied with anything he made. He knew he had to change that and preferably before the deadline.

* * *

Caroline had noticed the boxes right away but luckily Stefan and Damon's essentials seemed to be already unpacked. They could continue their work while Caroline started unpacking, mostly their were a lot of files with the progress of their work and from past ideas that they had wanted to keep close for research. She filed everything alphabetically, separating past and current projects before she cleared her own desk.

The phone stayed silent for most parts of the day so she had time to talk with Stefan between their tasks, for a first day it had been fairly simple, they still had to move in so she was focused on that and the brothers still hadn't told her all of her tasks.

It was Damon who had come up with the idea near the end of the day, he wanted to take her out for drinks but she immediately shot him down, "I don't go out with my boss," she said and continued her search for the files decading from 2009.

Damon scoffed almost offended but she could see it was just an act, "I would never ask out one of my employers. I mean with all of your bosses to talk over your first day. Right Stefan?"

Stefan looked up and nodded automatically, "Yeah Damon's right, we should celebrate your first day. I mean we wouldn't have gotten much work done without you here," he looked around, "I can't believe you almost finished unpacking already."

Caroline shrugged, "It's not that hard, you just need to create a system. But sure, we can go for drinks as long as I get to chose where." She had already decided she wanted to go to Trevor's again, Katherine was working and she knew her friend wanted to know how it had went as well.

"Okay that's settled, Caroline if you could write me the address of this place, we need to settle just one more thing before we can go. We'll meet you there," Damon told him and she caught Stefan throwing him a confused look. Still she nodded, it wasn't any of her concern.

Waiting in front of the elevators a young boy rushed out of them and ran into her she braced him and pulled him away from her, "Wow, easy there. Why are you in such a hurry?" The kid looked to be around twelve and he shook his head.

"I'm looking for my mother, she used to work downstairs but she has a new workplace now. Do you know where it is?"

"You're certain that you need to be on this floor?" she asked. As far as she knew the only ones that were up here where the Salvatores and Klaus. She doubted either of those men had a kid this age but he nodded so she supposed she could always ask Klaus about it. As CEO he should know, and even though she despised asking him for help, she couldn't let the boy wander of on his own. "What's your name?" she asked before she gestured him to follow her.

"Kyle Cobb," he told her and he walked next to her, "Do you know my mom?"

She shook her head, "No it's my first day as well so I don't really know anyone hear."

He looked sad after hearing that, "I hate it when that happens, we never moves because my mother doesn't want me to lose my friends on school but every first day of the year is still a little scary."

Caroline smiled at him, "Yeah I used to have that as well, but don't worry, everyone had those thoughts and there is just one first day per year, but many more in between."

He nodded at her, "I don't have any problems with it now, just when I was little I think."

She wanted to say more but they had already arrived at Klaus' part and she knocked on his door, "Come in," she hear him say and she entered.

"Caroline, what a surprise. Did you change your mind and decided to join me anyway?" he asked and she glared at him.

"No I found a kid wandering around looking for his mother and he was told she was supposed to be on this floor."

Klaus laughed at that, "How do you manage to surprise me every time you open that mouth of yours sweetheart?"

"Apparently it doesn't take much," Caroline said shrugging and didn't react when she heard Klaus deny that.

"It takes very much," he murmured but he stopped when he noticed Kyle appearing from behind her, "Who's that?"

"Did you not just listen to me? This is Kyle, I found him here looking for his mother."

"Who's his mother?" he looked at the kid in confusion and then back at Caroline, why had she brought him here.

"I don't know! I don't know anyone here so it's not like I could find her, you're in control here, find her," she turned around leaving Klaus behind and looked back at Kyle. "Mr. Mikaelson here is your mother's boss. He should know where you can find here okay?"

Kyle nodded, "Thank you..."

She smiled at the young boy, "Caroline, my name is Caroline," she had felt Klaus eyes on her during her exchange but left the office without turning around. She needed to get going to Trevor's, not wanting to let Damon and Stefan wait.

She felt bad for leaving the boy with Klaus but she knew he would have a better chance on finding his mother, besides not even Klaus could be mean to a sweet boy as Kyle. At least she hoped so.

* * *

**Sorry, not much about her actual day but like I've written on the top, I need to skip a bit of time. We're at chapter 14 and not even a full week has passed... If we continue on this rate Caroline and Klaus won't happen until at least chapter 50 -.- I don't have that patience and I doubt you guys have as well. So please do have a bit of patience because next chapter will be Trevor's with Caroline and her bosses (Which is one person more than she knows about ;))**

**Is there anything you really want to see next chapter? Tell me now and I might be able to write it in. You can leave it in a review, a PM or on my tumblr Doctorwhooed . tumblr . com**

**The next chapter will be posted in 2013 :) Just not yet certain of the specific day. Sorry :(**


	15. Chapter 15

**Okay so honestly when I said that the next update would be this year I wasn't expecting it to cut it_ this _close. I mean seriously I haven't had a lot of free time the past week with a lot of family gatherings and visitors but it's still a few hours before the new year! (in my timezone that is :))**

**That being said I hope everyone has a great New Year and if you have any New Year's resolutions that you manage to keep them for at least a week, I know I won't.**

* * *

**Chapter 15**

When Caroline finally arrived in Trevor's Damon and Stefan were already waiting at the bar. She didn't think she took that long but she had taken a short stop home to change into a pair of jeans. She hadn't planned it but it was on her way over and even though she knew that she wouldn't be the only person still in business attire in Trevor's, she still felt more comfortable wearing jeans and a top.

When she got home Katherine had already left for work and now entering Trevor's she noticed her friend busy behind the bar. She had never been her during "after-work" hours but now she understood what Katherine was always talking about. Trevor's was located between several companies and had a steady customer base. Even on a Monday there seemed to be a vast amount of people nurturing a drink before they left to go home.

She walked over to Damon and Stefan, her mind still busy with Kyle. She wondered if it had been a mistake to leave the kid with Klaus, he didn't seem like the kindest person and she doubted that if she ever got kids, she would let him get anywhere near them. So how could she just leave someone else's kid to that faith? Kyle seemed like a sweet kid and she wondered how he would manage himself. Hopefully they managed to find his mother quickly and could he get out as soon as possible.

She had contemplated calling Klaus once or twice on her way over but had convinced herself that it wasn't necessary. Why did she have to call? To check if he hadn't annoyed the little boy to death? It wasn't like he could do anything and he just had to make a call to get the boy's mother on the phone. Everything was fine, she just needed to stop worrying about absolutely nothing.

She noticed Katherine fixing a couple of drinks behind Damon and waved at her friend, a large grin on her face. "Someone looks happy to see me," Damon said smirking when he noticed her smile.

She rolled her eyes at him, "Sorry that was for the bartender, not you."

He looked behind himself in surprise and noticed Katherine, she noticed how he looked Katherine over before he turned back around, "Not what I was expecting, but I can work with that," he smirked at her and she quickly turned to Stefan.

"Have you guys ordered already?" she asked ignoring Damon's attempt and Stefan shook his head, "You weren't waiting for me were you?"

Stefan laughed at that, "No it's not that... Damon tried hitting on the bartender quite crudely before you arrived and now she's ignoring us."

Caroline laughed at that, "Sorry for that, she doesn't normally behave like that," she turned towards Damon, "She only does this when she's _really not _interested."

Damon shrugged, "That's fine, she would only suffice as a distraction until you arrived and since you're here now..."

"I'll order, I'll be back in a second," she waved at Katherine before Damon could finish and asked Stefan their orders. Katherine walked past a couple that had been waiting to order for a few minutes and stopped in front of Caroline.

"Hey Care, I wasn't expecting you here today, how was your first day?" Katherine told her while she grabbed a beer out of the fridge and handed it to Caroline. She still hadn't received her check but she and Katherine had created a tab for her in Trevor's that she could pay off later in the week. Luckily Katherine's boss had approved of it on Saturday because with the way she had been drinking that day she would have been in serious money troubles.

"Thanks Kat but I need two more, I'm here with my bosses to celebrate my first day," she pointed at Stefan and Damon behind her and Katherine looked surprised.

"That ass is supposed to be your boss?" she asked looking at Damon and Caroline chuckled.

At that moment Damon came closer and overheard her comment, "Yes I am, and thank you I totally agree, I have a great ass."

Katherine ignored him and handed Caroline the beers, "You're lucky I love you," she told Caroline before she turned around. Caroline smiled at her, she knew Katherine had wanted to withhold Damon his beer but now that she knew that Damon was her boss she probably was playing nice for her sake...

She handed Damon his beer and ignored him amused stare, "Friend of yours?" he asked and she rolled her eyes at him.

"Obviously."

Stefan walked over to them and she gave him his beer as well before they searched for a place to sit. "So what did I miss?" he asked while he sat opposite of Caroline's.

"Apparently Blondie here is pretty close with the hot bartender..." Damon told him.

Caroline scoffed, Damon had treated her perfectly normal during the day but it seemed that now that it was after work he stopped treating her as an employee and more as another woman he could flirt with. "She's my roommate," she explained to Stefan and he nodded understandingly.

"You two live together?" Damon said in surprise, "Damn! Can I be invited to one of those sleepovers?"

Caroline wanted to give him a snappy retort but a new voice had spoken from behind her before she could, "I wouldn't mind an invite either sweetheart. Katherine doesn't even have to be present, I don't think Elijah would be happy if she was."

She snapped her head around, recognizing that accent right away and came face to face with Klaus Mikaelson. She groaned at the sight and was aware of Damon's eyes on them when she spoke, "Why are you here? Please tell me you're not following me now."

He smiled at her, chuckling in amusement, "No love, I was invited."

"Invited?" she looked confused at that and then turned back to Stefan and Damon. Damon had a big grin on his face and Stefan at least had the decency to look guilty when he noticed her horrified expression. "Who exactly invited you?" she said accusingly to Damon and Stefan.

"Stefan invited him," Damon grinningly told her and she glared in Stefan's direction.

He held up his hands in defense, "It was Damon's idea and I didn't think it would be a big deal," he looked between Caroline and Klaus, sensing the tension between them, "Clearly I wasn't aware there was a history between you two." He glared in Klaus' reaction who only shrugged in response.

"No history mate, we just met last week."

"And you've been bothering me ever since," Caroline finished.

"I wouldn't need to if you had just accepted my job offer," Klaus argued.

"I wouldn't have needed to refuse it if you didn't behave like that during the interview!" Caroline seethed, she couldn't believe that he was trying to blame her for his flowers, texts, calls and intrusive siblings.

"I didn't hear you complaining about my behavior during that time love."

"Well you didn't really give me the chance to talk, now did you?" she pressed and she turned her back towards him hoping that he would leave. Instead he grabbed the chair next to her and sat down.

"I'm giving you the chance to talk now, talk to me. Tell me something about yourself." For some reason he found himself wanting to know more about her, hopefully if he knew more he could figure her out, solve the puzzle and she wouldn't catch his interest this easily.

"Really? You think that's going to work?" Caroline asked him and he noticed how her cheeks were getting a rosy color from either anger or frustration. He realized that he liked that color on her cheeks and he made a note to get it back on her face again. "You're feigning some interest in me and I'm just going to spread my legs for you?"

He noticed Damon's amused expression while he kept observing the two and he wondered why the oldest Salvatore brother wanted him to come. They hadn't told him that Caroline would be her, he had assumed that it would just be the two brothers wanting to talk about their new offices. Instead Caroline had been here as well and now she would know that she was still, at least partially, working for him. He hadn't wanted that to come out this soon...

"No, it's one of your many admirable qualities," he said honestly.

She rolled her eyes and looked back at the brothers that she had almost forgotten were still sitting with them, having heard every word that had passed. Damon looked amused at their argument but Stefan looked troubled and she didn't know why. She let her head rest on her arms and looked towards Damon, "So why exactly did you find it necessary to invite him?" she asked trying to ignore Klaus' presence.

"Stefan haven't told you yet?" Damon asked and she noticed Stefan glaring at his brother, "We signed a contract with Mikaelson Global last week. We're... partners," he made a face at the word and Caroline could tell that he didn't like the idea of having to work with anyone except Stefan.

The meaning of the words sank down, "Partners. You mean that Klaus," she pointed towards him and he looked amused at her catching on, "Is part of the company."

"He means that I may not be your boss but in many ways, I'm theirs."

She groaned, how was it possible that from all the jobs that she could take to avoid Klaus Mikaelson, she took the only one that still put her in this position. "You're enjoying this," she said glaring at Klaus.

"I would never find enjoyment in your pain love, but I can't say that I find it unpleasant to find you working in my company."

She groaned and shot glared at the men sitting with her, her "bosses". She looked at her beer, barely untouched and then looked back at the bar to where Katherine and Bonnie were busy at work. "If I'm going to have to stomach working with you, I'll need something stronger," she grabbed her glass and went back towards the bar, Klaus eyes were on her form until someone walked into his line of vision making him lose contact.

He snapped back towards his associates at the table and glared at Damon. "What the hell was that!" he seethed, he had tried to be pleasant around Caroline she was an excellent distraction but now that she was gone his anger flowed back as well. "She wasn't supposed to know that I had any hand in her getting hired!" he yelled and then lowered his voice when a few people turned around to stare.

"I kept our end of the deal, she doesn't know about your involvement. I just thought that she needed to know who she was working for," Damon told him and Klaus felt the desire to hit him, Damon had deliberately withhold the fact that Caroline would be present. He had planned this, he just wasn't sure what this was exactly. What did Damon have to gain by putting him and Caroline face to face...

He looked back to Stefan who was looking confused, he didn't seem to know what Damon had planned either but he knew his brother, he must suspect something. "I really hope that this isn't going to end badly Damon. I don't want Caroline quitting just because you want to prove something," Stefan told Damon and he looked up in interest.

"Proving what exactly?"

Stefan glared at his brother who attempted to look innocent but neither party fell for it, "My brother likes to be in control, you making us hire Caroline took some of his control away and he doesn't like that. He wanted to prove there was more to you wanting us to hire Caroline than what you told us."

"There isn't anything behind me wanting to hire Caroline, she's good at what she does and from what you told me Saturday she already proved herself to you."

"And still she rejected to work for you, I just wanted to know why, now I do," Damon told him.

Klaus raised an eyebrow at him, "You do know, please enlighten me?"

Damon shrugged and even Stefan looked interested in Damon's discovery, "Clearly you were more occupied with Caroline's body then her brain during the interview, she thinks you're disgusting but you want her in your bed -can't blame you for that one- so she refused the job. She probably wants to stay far away from you. So you got us to hire her to keep her close."

Klaus shook his head, "I already told you, I just tried to help her. I knew she was in need of a job."

Damon scoffed, "Sure and she would just refuse a job at a international company because what? You didn't offered her a big enough pay?"

"Believe what you want Damon, but nothing happened between Caroline and I," Klaus lied easily.

"But you want it to," Stefan said this time and leaned forward, "Look Klaus, I like Caroline and I think she can take care of herself but please tell me you didn't got us to hire the girl just so you can stay close to her."

"You're right, Caroline can take care of herself. She doesn't need you to do that for her," he glared at the Salvatore brothers and walked towards the bar needing a drink. He couldn't believe the stunt Damon had tried to pull, he needed to show the man who was really in charge soon.

He noticed Caroline in a conversation with the bartender, Katherine, he had heard some stories about her from his brother. She didn't look anything like the kind of woman he pictured him with but he seemed to be rather fond of her. He just hoped that she wasn't using him, because if she did he couldn't be held accountable for his actions. He had seen once before what could happen in such a situation and he didn't need to see that ever again.

Still Katherine was a close friend of Caroline and she didn't seem to be the type of girl that would approve of such behavior, for now he would give them the benefit of the doubt. If Elijah wanted to pursue the girl he wouldn't stop him, not yet.

When Katherine's eyes caught his the conversation between her and Caroline stopped and Caroline turned around trying to see what caught her friend's attention. When she noticed him her smile dropped and he frowned at that. He walked towards them, "You have a beautiful smile," he told her and she scoffed at him.

"You know I'm too smart to be seduced by you right?"

"That's what I like about you," he told her. It was true, Caroline was a challenge, a mystery that he wanted to unravel. He noticed the tiny smile that was growing on her face but it disappeared before it was completed. He wanted to see her smile again.

"So why aren't you back with Stefan and Damon, your partners," she bit out the last word as if it was something nasty and for her it was. Here she had thought that the biggest problem of her job was that she could run into him in the building and now she discovered that even if they got another office, he was still involved.

"Damon acted like an ass."

"You should be well equipped to deal with that," Caroline shot back. She wondered why he was still here, shouldn't he be done with her, she and Kol had counted on that, why was he still around?

"Maybe I don't like the fact that he used you to get his point across."

She sighed and Katherine appeared with scotch for him and a glass of Vodka for Caroline, she hadn't been lying when she said she needed something stronger. "Okay Klaus, tell me, what do you think Damon used me for?"

"He wanted to show me that even though I own part of their company, he still has power over the company."

"And how do I play a part in that?" Caroline wondered, she could understand Damon's desire not to give in to Klaus, she had that herself as well. But why would Damon need to use her to get a point across in anyway?

He wanted to start, telling her about the deal in the contract but realized that he couldn't tell Caroline about that. He didn't want her to know what he had done, she would either be furious or would be grateful but he didn't want her to act nice to him just because she thought she owed him. He didn't do it to be kind, that's what he tried to tell himself. He didn't have an answer to her and she scoffed, "You don't even have an answer, why are you so paranoid?"

He turned away from her piercing look, "I'm not paranoid," he insisted. He was just being careful, there was nothing wrong with that.

"Yes you are, you think Damon wants to assert his dominance just because you bought your way into the company, you assumed that anyone you interviewed would sleep with you, because why wouldn't they. You're rich, good looking and you offered the possibility of a job, you think anyone would jump into a bed with you just to get that, but you don't trust them... You expect people to turn their back on you," his face had fallen, she was getting to close to the truth, "Have you ever trusted anyone?" she asked sincere.

She had started in anger but halfway in her rant she realized that she was right, he truly believed everyone wanted to best him. He hadn't reacted on what she said, she could see several emotions cross his face, anger, distress, hurt, denial, she wondered what caused those but knew that he wouldn't tell her. After a few more moments he did speak, "How did you know?" his voice sounded ragged, he was holding something in and she found herself needing to know what it was.

"Know what?"

How did you know anything you just said, but he couldn't say those words. She couldn't know how close to the truth she was getting to. "How did you know about the interviews."

"So it's true?" she shot back and he shrugged.

"If you're asking me if you were the first girl that I tried to get unclothed, than I have to disappoint you. You weren't, you were just the only girl that I found interesting."

"Just because you couldn't get me, you only see me as a challenge," she countered, remembering Kol's words.

Klaus shook his head, "Maybe at first, but is it so hard you believe that I find you interesting?" he asked.

Caroline nodded furiously, "Yes! No one has never found me interesting and here I have to believe that you think of me as more than just a warm body to lose yourself in?"

He looked at her in realization, "Perhaps I'm not the only one with trust issues," he stated and he could see surprise cross her face before he turned around leaving the bar. He needed some peace, he needed to stay away from Caroline. She barely knew him and she already knew too much, he couldn't let her get too close. She was right, she was just supposed to be another warm body, he had to remind himself to that.

Caroline could see him disappear in the crowd, _"Perhaps I'm not the only one with trust issues," _well she did got him to admit that he had them not that that was surprising but how had he seen through her walls?

She had left Mystic Falls, left her past behind where no one could reach her but here Klaus was seeing through it all. Was it because she got it right with him? Maybe it was one of those things that you could only recognize if you had it yourself...

She found herself wondering where Klaus' issues came from but knew that she couldn't ask, he wouldn't tell her, neither would she if anyone asked. She had lived her life in fear when she was younger, before she met Katherine, she had put trust in people that didn't deserved it and it had taken years before she had given it to Tyler. Before he dumped her that is, and even then she didn't fought for them. She accepted that he wasn't interested anymore and left without a way to contact her. No one knew where she was, she had changed phone numbers, left no clue behind and disappeared, she started wondering why she had done so.

Was she still scared? She knew he would be out soon, but there was no way he would be searching for her... She hoped.

* * *

**It's about bloody time, Klaus and Caroline talk again and they seem to get to know a lot more about each other than expected.  
Finally some hints about Caroline's past and will they even open up to anyone?**

**It's a happy new year in only 3,5 hours for me so I'm leaving you guys and I should have the new chapter ready on Friday or Saturday!  
**

**Next chapter will have... honestly I have no clue yet so if you have any thoughts be free to share them with me! (It will be two weeks later)  
**

**Happy New Year!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Ugh updating have been getting a bit harder lately. Maybe it's because I've been getting less time to write but I promised an update yesterday or today and I hadn't been able to start until about 5 hours ago and even then I could just write small parts without being interupted. So I'm sorry this is totally unedited and I'll try to read it through later but I wanted to give you an update today.**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited, followed and read this chapter I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 16**

Two weeks had passed and Klaus and Caroline had managed to avoid each other as best as they could. There had been a few run ins in the hallway but they quietly passed each other, both focused on their destination and not paying any attention to the other.

On the moments that Klaus stopped by to meet with the Salvatores Caroline quickly stepped out to run an errand or busied herself with a new chore. She told herself that it had nothing to do with Klaus, she just wanted to stay busy and had other things to do. Besides she was avoiding him before, so there wasn't any difference in her behavior. Still she noticed how he seemed to stop chasing her as well, that was out of character for him and she wondered if she wasn't the only one avoiding here. But why would Klaus be avoiding her?

He hadn't stopped her when they run into each other, didn't even stop to say "Good Morning" and even ignored her presence when he stopped by. After their conversation he realized that he had to maintain some distance, there was no point in getting close to someone that he wanted to bed. It's not like Caroline actually meant something but he was afraid that she could.

She had been right in her observations but so had he, they might be more similar than he expected and if he wasn't already interested in the story of Caroline Forbes, than knowing that fact didn't help matters. He wanted to know what had happened in her past that made her guarded because he knew people weren't born with those walls. There were built, what made Caroline build those walls?

He found himself thinking about that more than he dared to admit and he knew that the only thing to make him forget was to forget about her. He kept trying to avoid her, resisted the impulse to engage her in a conversation and even canceled his meeting with Kol. He knew that if he saw his brother he would question him about his affair with Caroline and he couldn't let that invade his mind. He was busy, he had to submit the ads for the benefit today and he had absolutely nothing.

He had a sketch but he wanted something that gave light and warmth, that made people want to come and help but all he could portray was darkness. How had Caroline done that? She had been able to pinpoint exactly what was bothering him but was able to put into words what he couldn't.

He had toyed around with the idea for the last few days but hadn't wanted to ask anything of her, but he had to show them something and he had to show them today. He wasn't one to ask for help but if he had to... at least he knew that she was aware of the problem. She proved so much in their interview. He hated to admit it but he needed help, he just hoped that she would give up her quest to avoid him to help him out.

* * *

Caroline walked back into her office carrying two storage boxes with some files on top. She could barely see over the top and walked carefully hoping that people would walk around unfortunately one person didn't seem to get the message and collided with her just when she was about to enter her office. The boxes fell on the floor and the files got scattered over the floor, she quickly crouched down grabbing the files and thankful that non of them had opened. If all those papers had mixed together it would have taken weeks to sort it all out.

She reached out to the last file when a hand beat her to it, grabbing the file and handing it to her, she accepted it, "Thank you," she said while she raised her head coming face to face with him. She quickly stood upright when she realized that it had been Klaus that she had bumped into and grabbed the boxes ready to leave.

"You seem to carry a heavy load, need some help?" he offered to her while he grabbed the top box and she sighed.

"Look my office is right there, I think I can manage the ten feet on my own," I did fine until you walked into me...

Klaus ignored her protest and grabbed the box anyway, "It's fine I was trying to find you anyway."

"Well you found me," she said with a nervous chuckle. Why was she nervous? It wasn't like Klaus was the first person to point out her walls, he was just the first person who had figured it out this soon... What if he wanted to know more? Not even Katherine knew the whole story... not that he was getting out soon and that it had her on edge.

"That I did, look I came here to ask for your help," they had entered her office and she put the boxes on her desk, turning around she took a good look at him, she noticed his nervous posture and she wondered why he was nervous. Whatever he was about to ask her it seemed important to him and he seemed to assume that she would reject it.

"Well what is it that you need because I'm kinda working here?" she waved at the files scattered around her and to prove her point the phone just started ringing. He wanted to answer but she raised one finger at him and walked over to the phone.

"The Salvatores. You're speaking with Caroline Forbes how can I help you?"

He couldn't hear who was on the other line but she opened a small book beside her and seemed to check something. "That's right, Friday at three o'clock. Okay I'll be sure to make a reservation under Salvatore. Have a nice day Mr. Green."

She returned the phone to its former position and turned back to him. "Sorry, work. What I'm supposed to be doing here..." she gave him a pointed look and he knew she didn't like being interrupted.

"Don't worry love, it's not a social call. I have a project that I needed to finish and I was hoping that you could help me. I'm running into a deadline," Klaus told her and she looked skeptical.

"Why ask my help and not someone that actually works for you, if you didn't notice. I'm kinda busy."

"Well maybe I think you would be more suited for the job," Klaus tried again, "And I've discussed it with Stefan and Damon already, they leave the decision up to you." Damon had protested at the request but was overruled, it wasn't until Stefan told him that Caroline would have the final decision he agreed. "Good luck convincing her, something tells me it won't be easy," where his parting words before he had been searching for her.

Damon was wrong there. It wasn't 'not easy' to convince Caroline, it would be fucking impossible. Caroline only would do something if she wanted to, that much he had learned so if she refused he could try to change her mind but he knew that it wouldn't work. He had learned that much after his job proposal.

Leave it to Damon and Stefan to let her decide, she appreciated the gesture but she already knew the answer. She wasn't going to leave her own work behind just because Klaus suddenly decided he needed her, he had plenty of people that could help him. Which reminded her, "Don't you have an assistant to help you with these things?" she asked and he smiled.

"Audrey is currently picking up some dry-cleaning, besides I can't ask her to help. She's not familiar with the concept."

"And I am?" she doubted it, how could she know anything about it.

He nodded and grabbed a folder out of his briefcase presenting her with the same ads he had shown during their interview. "The Museum on National History," she said when she recognized the work.

He smiled, "You remember."

"Yeah I recognize them," she acknowledged, "You showed them when we...," she trailed of and he could see a slight blush appear on her face, "I've seen them. Shouldn't you have these handed over already?" Why was he still holding on to this and what did she have to do with the concept. She wasn't an artist, she had no knowledge about this.

"The deadline is today," he confessed, pleased that she still remembered the work. That made it easier, he would hate to have to explain everything again.

"So why do you still have it?" she asked curiously.

"Take a look sweetheart," he handed her the file and she looked through it.

"It's still the same," she concluded and he nodded, "I though you said that the original concept wasn't good enough..."

"It's not, I just can't seem to design what I do want," he confessed to her and she looked surprised, she didn't knew he was an artist.

"So why do you need my help? I can't do it either."

"I don't need you to make the design," he sighed, "I should be able to do it, but I can't... You said something about the ad needing to be more personal. I haven't managed to do that yet and there's just so little time left. You were able to deduct that with ease, I was hoping," he swallowed not used to having to ask for help, "I was hoping you could help me. Just today."

"I don't-"  
"I just need your advise," he interrupted her, knowing that she would seek reasons to refuse. "Just take a look, if you think you can't help me you can leave."

She sighed, she knew this was important and she could always leave... "Fine."

He grinned, "Thank you, now if you can take your stuff we can move to my office."

"I don't need to take them with me, I"ll be returning here," she pointed out to him already regretting her decision, you can't really avoid someone that you're working with now can you...

"True but I'm not sure how long this will take."

"And I'm not sure how long I will stay," she retorted and then sighed, "Okay if we want this to work we can't argue. We need to listen to each other."  
"I always listen to you sweetheart," he cursed himself when he noticed how he had been throwing out the loves and sweethearts, he shouldn't be flirting with her and arguing with her was almost the same. The flustered look she could get, the passion that she put into it... he liked to ruffle those feathers of her but he had to stay focused. He couldn't lose himself in her even if he wanted to.

Caroline sighed, it would just be one day. She could manage that, and to show good faith she grabbed her bag before she left, she turned around to Klaus who hadn't moved, "You're coming?"

She could hear Klaus following her, she entered his office and noticed how his desk was filled with papers and sketches. He really had been working on this, she was curious to see what he had come up with. She hadn't expected him to design anything and she certainly hadn't expected him to draw. She could picture him using some software to get the work done but she hadn't expected him to use some paper and a pencil. "You draw," she said in surprise.

He shrugged, "I used to."

"Used to?" she wondered what he meant with that, it sure looked like he was still drawing.

"I stopped drawing, painting..." he noticed her surprise when he let is slip that he painted and realized that he had to watch his words, she caught everything, "I just didn't had a lot of time for art since I took over the company."

"Are you any good?" she asked and walked over to his desk to take a look at his sketches.

He thought about it for a second, he knew he wasn't awful but he hadn't been like he used to either... "I'm okay, I've been better," he said honestly, he noticed her looking through his sketches and wondered what she would think of them.

Her eyes widened in delight when they rested upon his first completed drawing. It had a lot of bright colors, in the background he had drawn the hall of the museum and Caroline clearly recognized it. "This looks so real," she breathed out while she looked at the background. She took another look before she turned towards him, "Why is it empty?"

He looked confused at that, "What do you mean?"  
"The hall, it's always filled with people, kids, families, parties anyone actually... You drew it empty, no one is there..." There was something sad about the empty hall, maybe it was because she was used to the crowded halls but a museum should be filled with people, seeing it so empty seemed unnatural. Almost scary, lonely.

"It's a museum, it's about art, the history, skeletons, artifacts," he pointed at what was shown in his background, "It's not about the people."

Caroline shook her head, "It's a benefit, you want people to come not for the sights, they can see that any time they want. You want them to come to support the company..."

"So what do you suggest?"

"Keep this concept, the art is amazing, but fill it with people," she paused, "Not just people, the people in Mikaelson Global. You want to make it look like something people want to be included in. Like they have to be there, and to do so they have to buy a ticket to the benefit," she smiled, she had organized a few for Carol in Mystic Falls so she knew how to think in this aspect.

Klaus nodded and sat down he started to draw and Caroline got ready to leave, when she was halfway Klaus raised his head, "Where are you going?" it sounded accusatory and she was confused about why.

"I'm leaving, it seems like you don't need me anymore..."

"We're not done yet, I haven't drawn anything new yet and I can't judge it myself," you're better in that.

Caroline sighed and sat down, "And what do you propose I'm going to do?" she asked while she crossed her leg. She couldn't sit still and do nothing, she had to stay busy.

He shrugged, "Take a break love, I'll need you soon enough."  
She rolled her eyes but stayed seated, while his pencil flew over the piece of paper. She noticed how his face was crunched up in focus and she wondered why he hadn't just passed the ad back to the marketing department. They were in charge of this, why did he struggle with this for two weeks himself?

She fidgeted in her chair trying to keep her mouth shut, she knew he had to stay focused, "Can I ask you something?"

"Can I stop you?" he asked while he continued to draw.

She bit her lip but remained quiet, she didn't want to disturb him she told herself. "Spit it out love, what is it you want to know?" he put his pencil down and met her gaze.

"Why are you doing this yourself?" she wondered, "It's not your job, you're the CEO, you're supposed to approve or disprove of these things, not make them yourself."

He didn't knew what he had been expecting but that hadn't been it. "Do you always do what you have to do?" he asked and when he noticed her confused look he rephrased, "Okay I assume you do, but do you always do just what you have to do? Aren't there things you like to do just for fun? Not because it's your job or it is expected?"

She shrugged, "I like my job, I like planning stuff, organizing events, I'm good at it and I enjoy it."

"Before I was CEO I worked here, I searched for promising companies, created deals looked around and in my free time I worked on some artworks. It kept me busy, I liked the work and it left me with some free time. I don't have that anymore, now it's a lot of paperwork a lot of responsibility and I know that a lot of people, competitors are waiting till I fail," he grew silent and Caroline could see regret creep on his face.

"I don't want to prove them right, so I keep working even when I don't like it. This is something that I do like, so why shouldn't I keep myself busy with something that I actually enjoy?" he asked and she didn't know what to answer.

"Then why do you have the job? If you don't like it?" Caroline wondered out loud.

"Our father died a few months ago, he left the position to Elijah but he didn't want it. My siblings chose me instead, I never complained, one of us had to take it and I knew the company best."

"But you don't like it?" she guessed and he pursed his lips.

"I don't mind it, but it's not something that I would have chosen myself," he confessed to her and she grinned trying to get him to tell her more.

"So what would you have chosen?"

He thought about it for a second, "I liked what I was doing before this, I like looking for companies with promise, like I did with The Salvatores."

She bit her lip, not sure at the mention of the company. "You scouted them?"

"I did, I still like looking at small companies and look for their ideas and plans, to see if I can work with that. I like that part of my work."

"Is there something else that you like about your job? You're current job I mean."

He thought about it for a second and answered with a wolfish smile, "The fact that I can boss everyone around."  
She chuckled and rolled her eyes, "Please, like you didn't do that before!"

He shrugged, "True, but now they have to listen when I request something."

"You like that don't you? Having people do as you ask?" It was something she had noticed about him, he expected people to obey to him and was agonized when they didn't. She guessed that it was part of the reason why he tried to change her mind in the beginning, he thought that she would give in like any other girl.

"It's not the worst thing," he agreed and continued his work.

"Isn't it better to have people listen to you because they want to?" she wondered but he stayed silent continuing his sketch.

He had heard her question and he gave it some thought, but in his experience people didn't want to listen. They liked to live through there own rules and he couldn't rely on people that only did what he asked when they wanted. People needed to listen to him, period.

* * *

It was almost noon and he had made several adjustments to his sketch, Caroline had voiced her approval but also told him to focus on the expressions. It had to look like people were having fun, not like they were going to a funeral. He knew his work often had a dark tone but he hadn't expected that to give so much trouble in this design, but still it seemed to leak through. It was a good thing he had Caroline around to point it out to him.

He was glad she stopped asking questions that didn't concern the ads, because there was something about Caroline he realized... Something that made him want to tell her, want to answer her. That could be dangerous.

It was then that Audrey spoke over the intercom, informing him that his brother had arrived for lunch. It didn't seem like Elijah to come by to have lunch but maybe he had something to talk about. "Send him in," he told her and he looked at Caroline who had heard it as well.

"Should I go? I don't want to intrude on lunch with your brother."

Klaus shook his head, "You can stay, if there's something my brother wants to discuss he can come by later. Besides you know my brother, we can have lunch with the three of us." Caroline nodded, she was starting to feel hungry and it had been a while since she had seen Elijah. Katherine had only seen him a few times the last few weeks, she still wasn't ready to talk to him and Caroline was trying to convince her that she could, that he would listen but she knew that her friend had troubles with it. She could understand that but she didn't want Katherine to hold herself back. It wasn't Elijah that walked through the door though, wrong brother.

* * *

**I'm so glad that I'm finally at a part where I can write more Klaroline. Now who you think just walked through that door ;) Since Caroline just got invited for lunch... that could get interesting.**

**So what did you think of this chapter? There will be some Kalijah soon again as well (Katherine will tell Elijah her past) but the Klaroline was a bit more than I was expecting. It's just noon and they're still not ready :) Also I think that Caroline deserves a ticket to this Gala for all her trouble, how about you?**

**New Year Resolution: Accept that you can't always update every two days but update Work For It at least once a week.  
Next update should be on Wednesday!**


	17. Chapter 17

**So almost everyone was able to guess which brother will walk through the door and I entertained another option but it didn't work the way I wanted it to... So there's that.**

**Thank you to everyone who followed, reviewed and/or favorited this story. I actually hit 200 followers after the last chapter and I can't believe that! To everyone that reads this story, you guys are all crazy that your reading my work :P But I love you for it and this is one of the largest chapters this far. Also has some answers that I know some of you really wanted. **

**Also there should probably be a trigger warning for this chapter: Basically there will be mentioning of teen pregnancy, miscarriages, adoption, abortion... I think that covers it yes.**

* * *

**Chapter 17**

"Nik! You've been avoiding me!" Kol called out when he entered the room and his eyes widened when he noticed Caroline sitting in the office as well, "And so have you," he told her almost dramatically but not before giving her a wink, clearly someone hadn't forgotten their talk in Trevor's that night. She hadn't given it much thought though, she hadn't been that focused on making Klaus pay, she was more focused on staying away from him. Still Kol didn't know any of that and she suspected that he enjoyed annoying his brother a little too much.

"You don't call, you don't answer my texts and I haven't seen you in Trevor's either. If I didn't know better I would almost think you didn't like me," Kol continued making sure that Klaus was well reminded about their past. He hadn't seen Klaus and Caroline interact before and he hadn't seen his brother's reaction to his texts so he was hoping he could figure out more about his interest in Caroline right now. He hadn't expected her to be here though, from what he had gathered Caroline didn't want to work with Klaus and she had taken another job, still she was here…

He wasn't sure what that was about but he had seen enough to know that Klaus wasn't happy with him intruding, his brother's glare was evident of the matter and Kol only rolled his eyes at the sight. "Kol," Klaus bit out trying not to sound too hostile in their presence even though he was quite annoyed with Kol's intrusion. He should have expected Kol to just barge in, he had the tendency to do so and just because he managed to find excuses for the last two weeks didn't mean Kol wouldn't manage to barge in some day. "It's been a while…" he said and looked at Caroline trying to see her reaction to his brother's appearance and was pleased when she didn't smile back at his brother.

"Yeah I was trying to come by a couple of times in the last weeks but every time your little assistant told me you were in a meeting…" Kol said accusingly, he was quite sure that Klaus had told his assistant that excuse but he wondered why his brother was avoiding him. Was it truly about Caroline? He shifted his look between the two of them and noticed how Klaus gaze was only focused on her. Caroline however was fidgeting uncomfortable in her chair. Well if she was uncomfortable now… he couldn't wait to see her reaction when he was done here.

He had truly intended just to stop by to have some lunch with his brother but if this girl had the power over his brother to have him avoiding his own family… well there should be some truths revealed and he happened to know a few. Maybe she could help him out, but not when they were like this.

"She did now, well I've been very busy the last couple of days. I'm sure you understand," he cursed Audrey for not having told him which brother was waiting on him for lunch. Every single time that Kol had stopped by he had told her that he was busy, in a meeting or a phone conference. Any plausible excuse he had tried, surely she had understood that those were excuses, she made his planning and she knew he had no meetings at those times. So why couldn't she just have made up another excuse to dismiss his brother instead of making him believe it was actually Elijah. He needed to have a word with the girl; he wasn't sure about her intent.

Kol nodded, "Of course, you were terribly busy it happens, that doesn't explain you though," he turned towards Caroline who was looking at Kol with a questionable expression.

"What are you talking about?" she hissed at him, she was fine playing along with Kol; it was as much her plan as it was his. But this was work and she wasn't going to let him disrupt that place. Things changed, Klaus was partly her boss now and she was actually getting along with him about ten minutes ago, well they at least managed to cordially work together and here Kol was threatening that again.

"Don't tell me you already forgotten?" Kol exclaimed and he pressed his hand against his heart, "I'm hurt, Caroline I hadn't expected you to be this cruel."

Caroline glared at him, "Seriously Kol, we're working here! Can you play your games somewhere else?"

He gasped, "My games? My, my, Caroline. It seems someone is forgetting something very crucial," Kol said and she narrowed his eyes at her. Surely he wouldn't... "I may have played in these games but it's you and Klaus that started them."

He didn't shrink under Caroline's and Klaus' glared but he wasn't sure whose was more poisonous. He had been included in both schemes and even though he and Caroline hadn't actually gotten far with theirs, and she was already aware of Klaus' he didn't know that. Neither wanted him to say anything about them, but that wouldn't keep him quiet. He doubted Klaus would ever care about someone again, but it seemed like if he ever would again, Caroline had the potential to be that girl.

His brother had been focused on her from the start and apparently been hurt or annoyed enough to avoid him in return. Whatever it was that could happen, it couldn't happen with lies between them and suddenly Kol didn't want to be a part of that. Besides secrets always came out, this way he had a front row seat… "It seems like Caroline has a tendency to over-exaggerate what has actually happened between her and other men," he paused and thought that over, "Or well maybe men have the tendency to over-exaggerate what they have done with her, I'll let you be the judge of that."

He turned towards his brother who looked confused about the matter, Caroline seemed mad and he instinctively moved a bit further away from her. She may seem like a pretty blonde but he hadn't forgotten the tight grip she had on his arms when he had tried to feel her up. She was stronger than she looked.

Klaus was trying to figure out what Kol was saying, "You didn't sleep with Caroline," he said softly, relieved at the realization, "But the texts, the pictures…"

Kol shrugged and waved at Caroline, "Her idea, well the last ones were, I wrote the first ones."

He looked shocked at that and hurt flashed over his face, Caroline bit her lip, she hadn't expected him to actually care about it. It had just been to get rid of him; she wasn't supposed to feel guilty about that. "Why?" he bit out, hurt had passed and anger had replaced it.

Before Caroline had the chance to answer Kol already took over, "Yes Caroline and I made you believe something happened between us," he paused and now it was his turn to glare at Klaus, "Just like you had me believe that you and Caroline had actually slept together."

Klaus raised his hands, "I never said anything about that, you assumed, I just failed to correct you," he quickly looked over at Caroline to see her reaction but from her stoically expression she already knew. "So what, you thought that made it okay to lie to me?" he demanded to know and lunged at his brother.

Kol jumped out of his reach, "Uhuh, brother," he chastised him, "I wasn't done yet."

She let her head fall in her hands, "Seriously, what more can you have to say?" she bit out to him; she couldn't believe he had just told Klaus about her lie with Kol. Why would he have done so?

"Well there's the bet, but you already know all about that. I told her after she refused my advances, after talking to her it was quite easy to deduce that you were lying about her," Kol said, "But Klaus didn't know that you knew about that yet," he paused for a moment, "Huh? Now that I think about it Klaus was the only one that didn't know any of thesee… Maybe I should reveal something to Caroline as well," He tapped his chin, thinking for a moment, "Maybe you should look into why you got your job, I'm pretty sure-"

Klaus quickly interrupted him. "I think you've said enough Kol. You should leave!"

Kol looked between the two, there was a distance between them but he knew they would have to talk about what he had just revealed. Now could only hope that something would come out of that, and if there wouldn't, well at least that would be clear as well. "Fine, I know when I overstayed my welcome." He turned around and left the office, leaving Caroline and Klaus behind, both keeping their gazes focused on the floor instead of raising it to look at the other.

* * *

Katherine looked at Elijah, noticed his composure while he was seated on her couch. She was only a feet away but he made no move to get closer to her, from any other person she would have seen it as disinterest but from Elijah she had come to learn that he just respected her boundaries. Even though they had shared some kisses these last weeks, they were all initiated by her, he let her take control and she appreciated that. She needed that, but Caroline had been right, he deserved to know more about her, and maybe it was good for her to talk about this.

She just didn't know where to start; no one had ever asked her about what had happened, not really. Sure she got a lot of questions when it was all out but she could feel the judgment in it, they all assumed they knew the answer, they were only asking to be polite and she knew no one would believe her sorrow. So she put up a brave face and put it away, the only one who knew everything was Caroline but that was only because she was the only one she had confided in during the relationship, she was her best friend, knew stuff no one else knew and now she wasn't sure how to talk about it…

Elijah could see her fidget and grabbed her hands in his, "Katherine, why did you ask me to come over?" he asked gently and she knew he was trying to get her to open up. She knew she was being unfair to Elijah, she was putting up barriers that were impossible to cross. She was afraid to get hurt, but not letting Elijah in would hurt her as well, it would drive him away… Wasn't it better to drive him away by telling the truth? At least that way she wouldn't have anymore "What-ifs" she had enough of those to rest a lifetime.

"Okay so I told you that I came to New York immediately after I graduated High School," she started, it was better to recite the facts he already knew about her, to ease into it because she still wasn't sure if she could talk about this…

He nodded and she took a deep breath, "There's a reason why I left my hometown first chance I got, I wanted to get out of there, always wanted so. Caroline and I had made plans to leave Mystic Falls when we were older, go somewhere together, share an apartment until we were settled in, you know just two teens making plans?"

Elijah listened and nodded, "But didn't you come here alone back then?" he asked and she couldn't resist the little smile, he did listen to everything she said, she wasn't used to that.

"Yeah, we had those plans, we weren't planning on leaving right after graduation," she paused and chuckled at the memory, "You know Caroline, she didn't want to leave before she had everything settled in a new town, she wanted to be sure she had a job first, or was enrolled in a college before we decided on a city. She wanted to organize everything so we needed a bit of time before we could leave."

"So what happened? Why didn't you come together?" Elijah asked softly and she knew he didn't want to pry but he wanted to know the woman in front of him and to do that she needed to be able to tell him things. She had to know he would be there for her.

"It was senior year, we were almost halfway the year when all of the sudden," she paused for a moment not sure how to say the words. Everyone had discovered it in Mystic Falls, but not because she had told him, secrets were just impossible to keep in the small town. Only a few actually succeeded in keeping them. She swallowed before continuing, "I found out I was pregnant," she let the words roll out and kept her eyes on Elijah to see his reaction.

He didn't show anything, he didn't look shocked, disgusted or judgmental, none of the emotions she was used to see. Instead he kept a soft grip on her hand, she could feel his thumb stroke over the palm of her hand and there was admiration in her eyes, exactly how he always looked at her. She wondered why that was there but she couldn't ask.

Well the beginning was out of there, she just had to continue. One of the things she liked most about Elijah was that he didn't press; he let her tell her story on her own time, knew this was hard for her and didn't interrupt with questions. She knew there were several that must been plaguing him but he allowed her to take a moment before continuing in peace. Still she could at least answer one that she knew he must have. He was an important part of this story as well.

"When I found out that I was," she sighed, "Well pregnant, I told Caroline, unsure what to do about it. I knew who the father was; no one knew that though… Me and Caroline, we liked to go out a lot, got in some troubles that her mother helped us out a lot of the times. I liked to flirt and people assumed, well I guess they assumed I was easy. But I had been with one person for almost a year, I just couldn't tell anyone about it."

She was silent for a moment, staring at their hands that were still interlocked, she raised her eyes to his, "Can you please say something?" she asked, needing to know what he was thinking while she was just at the beginning.

"Katherine what would you like me to say, this is your past, words can't change that. It's just a part of what makes you who you are right now and I happen to like that person," Elijah told her and it gave her the courage to continue hoping that he would keep any judgment to himself, or worse, pity.

"Okay, well the person I had been seeing… We couldn't be, people couldn't know about us," she took a deep breath before she continued, "His name was Brandon, he was an old friend of my father," Katherine told and she could hear Elijah's breath hitch for a moment and she wasn't sure why.

She wasn't aware of the disgust Elijah felt for an older man taking advantage of a young girl, because no matter what Katherine told, he knew this wasn't healthy. He must have been older than her; quite a bit older and more important had forced her to hide their relationship for such a long time. He feared the reason why. Still he could see that she was waiting on his reaction so he gave her one, "He was older than you," he unnecessarily stated and she nodded.

"He was forty," she paused for a moment but then realized he needed all the details for it to make sense, "And married."

Elijah just nodded and allowed her to continue, any questions could be asked later, Katherine was being incredibly brave into telling him this and he didn't want to interrupt her any more. "So I didn't told him right away, I talked it over with Caroline unsure what I wanted to do and she advised me to tell him. She said something like it wasn't only my baby and no matter what I decided he at least deserved to know. She disliked the relationship, I know she did even if she would never outright tell me but she was right. He needed to know." She shook her head at the memory, tears coming up at the memory of that night, she had rang Caroline right away and her friend had come over letting her just cry out until she finally got the words out. She had needed Caroline's support and she had gotten it without a question asked. She knew her friend disliked Brandon but she had never judged her, she loved that about Caroline.

"So I called Brandon and we had a place we used to meet… I-" she choked back a sob and could feel Elijah's concerned eyes on her, "I told him what I was and he…" she still had trouble saying the words, hating how he had tried to pressure her, she didn't want to go in all the details so she ended up telling Elijah the short version, "He tried to convince me to get rid of it," she sighed, that wasn't true, Elijah deserved some truth, "Brandon attempted to force me in the matter, already grabbing his phone to make an appointment. I kicked him down, crushed his phone and told him I never wanted to see him again." Tears were streaming over her face but she just wiped them away, she hated feeling that helpless that day but in the end she had gotten away from him and he had stayed true to her threat. He had stayed far away from her, never speaking another word to her even after.

"I still didn't know what I wanted to do, if I wanted to keep it, put it up for adoption or," she swallowed deeply and tightened her grip on Elijah's hand, "Or do what Brandon had asked, not for him, but for me. I think I talked about it with Caroline a million times and I still didn't know…" she hiccupped rested her head against Elijah's chest, she hadn't even realized they had gotten closer during her story. She wasn't sure who had initiated it but here, resting against Elijah, having his arms around her, it allowed her to calm down, if only a little.

Elijah swallowed and she could feel the rise of his chest with every breath, she knew there was an answer he was dying to know, she couldn't blame him for that. He knew she didn't end up keeping that, he would have seen a five-year old running around right now if she had. So what did she end up choosing, it was what everyone would want to know, it was what she wanted to know. "Just ask it," she said and lifted her head to look him in the eyes, there were just a few inches left between them and she could see his troubled gaze. He didn't want to ask, didn't want to intrude but she wouldn't have told him if she didn't want him to know…

"What did you end up deciding," Elijah asked carefully and noticed how Katherine avoided his eyes this time, she pressed her face back into his chest and he held her closer, she had broken in full fledged crying right now and he could feel her trembling beneath his arms. "I didn't mean to upset you," he told her and she had to chuckle at that.  
"How can you still be so polite when you have a crazy, damaged bartender crying against you and ruining your perfect suit?" she choked out before she ended up coughing.

"You're not damaged," he said so convincingly that she almost started to believe him, still she knew that wasn't true.

"You never denied that I was crazy…" she said trying to lighten up the mood for even a second before she had to continue.

"Maybe I like that about you," Elijah confessed and her eyes widened, she had expected him to want to change her. She knew she wasn't the type of woman he would normally go for but instead he just told her that he liked those parts of her that made them different. It took some of the fear away and she grabbed one of the tissues that she had made sure to place nearby when she had called Elijah over.

She blew her nose, for once not concerned about how it made her look, she knew she had to look like a mess now anyway. "You know I always wanted to know that answer as well…" she admitted and he looked confused for a moment.

"The answer to what?" he asked before he realized that she was answering his previous question.

"To what I would have chosen, I'm still wondering sometimes, if I would have kept it, I didn't really consider adoption, I would still have to live through the pregnancy and I just wouldn't be able to explain that. No, either I kept the baby and accepted all the talks behind my back, all the questions that I would never be able to answer or I would have scheduled an abortion, it would have been kept quiet, no one would know and I could pretend it had never happened… I still don't know what I would have done. I never got the chance before I-" she broke out sobbing again unable to speak the words but she knew she had to, she had to say it, she couldn't ignore it any longer, "Before I had a miscarriage."

He had understood what she was trying to say before she had spoken the words but it still hurt him to see Katherine in so much pain, no young girl was supposed to live through so much pain. He hugged her close, pressing a kiss on her the top of her head and gave her the time to choke down her sobs, "It is okay Katherine," he said while he stroked her back.

She shook her head, "No it's not," she cried out, "I never got to make a decision."

"You can't worry about that Katherine; you can't change what has happened. Thinking about other outcomes will only hurt you more."

"Not thinking about it hasn't actually been helping either. The worst thing is, no one ever asked me about this. Everyone knew I had a miscarriage, they found me in the school bathroom… No one can keep a secret in High School," she scoffed at the faked sympathy of her classmates, or the judgmental stares, the whispers, the bets on who the father could have been…

"Everyone assumed that I was okay with it, that I would have removed it any way, not fit to be a parent. Hell even my own twin sister said that it was only time before I would have gotten knocked up anyway. She kept asking who it was though and when I didn't answer she told me that I probably didn't even remember who it was anyway… Those last months before graduation were hell; after I graduated I packed my bags and left, never came back, and I never will," she said finally ending her story. She couldn't believe she actually managed to tell Elijah everything and he hadn't rejected her. She pressed herself closer against him, getting comfort from his touch and accepted the grief she still had. She knew she had to let it out one day maybe that was today.

* * *

"So you lied to me," Klaus accused Caroline after Kol left their room.

She raised an eyebrow at him unimpressed, "Because you've been so honest 'Mr. Taking-advantage-of-the-women-that-are-in-need-in-a-job?' Don't start accusing people of things you have done just as bad!"

"I never lied to you!" Klaus shouted out, neglecting the little bit of information about the true reason Stefan had hired her.

"Please you've lied from me from the start; all you were trying was to get me in bed. The only moment you've actually been honest with me was today, while I was helping you. I actually saw a decent person back then but no you have to just undo all of that and be an ass again."

Klaus wanted to lash out again but paused for a moment, "What do you mean?" he asked and she sighed in annoyance.

"You're just..." she looked for a word to describe him but all failed, "You're just so frustrating, the one moment you try to get me in your bed, than you actually talk like a decent human being, then you're an ass, helpful, I don't know what to make of you," she confessed before turning around, "But what I do know is that I'm done helping you. We've both lied so don't dare blaming me for lying in return," with that she turned around.

Klaus could see her leave, wanting to call her back but he knew it would have no use, she needed time and so did he. He looked back at his unfinished work, why did his brother chose today to make such a spectacle, he really did need Caroline's help, and he hadn't mind her company either…

* * *

**So I know that was a whole lot of Kalijah, or actually Katherine and not that much Klaus and Caroline but to be honest, this was something that had to be dealt with and I didn't want to reveal Katherine's past experience in a short paragraph or just as a casual mention. I do hope I did it justice because this was hard for me to write. And Katherine and Elijah were both a bit missing for the last two chapter which had a lot of Klaroline so see it as a trade...  
I don't know, just tell me what you thought about it, I can work with that.**

**Also how will Caroline and Klaus deal with their lies being out in the open? Well almost all of them, Klaus still has something on his sleeve that unfortunately Kol couldn't fully reveal. Will Caroline look into the matter on her own?**

**Next update should be ready somewhere this weekend. Sunday the latest I hope...  
****Also I'm very close to 200 reviews and the 200th will get a sneak peek or will get the answer to a question, I will PM you about that! I do that every 25 reviews :)**


	18. Chapter 18

**I want to thank everyone for the reactions to the last chapter! That part with Katherine was something I found very difficult to write but your responses were amazing. So thank you for that, I'm glad that you guys seemed to like that scene, even though it's so sad as well. And most importantly I'm glad with those that loved Elijah's response. I found it important that he would react in such a way and thankfully most of you seemed to agree.**

**I hit 200 reviews last chapter,** _Creative Murderer _**you were the lovely number 200 and she has received a sneak peek earlier this week, you guys are unbelievable. As for all the other reviews, I try to answer as many as I can. Unfortunately when it's from a guest account I can't, but this time there were a few guest reviews I liked to point out :)**

_NikMik  
katherine's story was so heartbreaking...but it's only made her stronger. i love how elijah handled the situation though._  
_i have to admit...i'm confused about what kol was trying to start in klaus' office between him & caroline..._  
_update soon please! ;)_

First of all thank you for the reviews that I have gotten from you, I'm sorry that I've never been able to reply. Secondly I would like to explain why Kol did what he did since I'm sure some others might wonder this as well. Kol noticed how Klaus acted around Caroline and more importantly because of her, he avoided his own brother because he believed that Kol had sex with her and I believe he realized that there was more to it. Kol loves Klaus and he didn't mean to toy with him, he thought Caroline just to be a game but he's starting to realize she might be more (even if Klaus doesn't realize it) and wanted to give them a chance. You can't have that with lies, and he does enjoy the dramatics of it. It will come back though, but mostly, he was being Kol.

_Guest_

_Kol is so funny, even when he's helping he's being an ass- LOL!  
__Caroline totally has to call Klaus out on the job!_

Haha yeah Kol is a special person alright but I love that about him :) As for Caroline calling him out on the job, read this chapter and the author note at the bottom :) Thank you for your review!

_Guest  
Klaus, you whiny little bitch. You started this whole thing with your immoral little pact with Kol. You used every poor woman who was trying to get a job and then you tried to do the same to Caroline. You stalked her, schemed to get her under your influence by having your partner hire her and now you're mad because she paid you back? You sir deserve to be bitch slapped. And I'll happily anticipate said bitch slap for another chapter. ;)_

Okay so I know that not everyone approves of Klaus' bet with Caroline, hell neither do I. But don't worry there will be consequences for that bet, as for Caroline, yeah he didn't really reacted in the best way there and he will be called out on his behavior later. Caroline paid him back and he hadn't expected that, as for that bitch slap... Caroline probably wants to give him one as much as you want to see that :)

**Now I'm sorry for that long note and on to the chapter, there were just a few things in those reviews I wanted to answer :) And Happy Two Years Klaroline!**

* * *

**Chapter 18**

Caroline was back behind her desk looking at the boxes and files that she had left behind, she could finish working on those now but she figured that after working with Klaus she was still entitled to her break.

She felt guilty thinking back to Klaus, not about her actions or his, she was still quite angry about that bet that he had made with Kol, but he had asked her help with this project and the deadline was today… Should she go back and help? She shook her head at the thought, hell no! She had made an effort and sure it had gone well, surprisingly so, but after Kol's visit he wouldn't let it slide and she couldn't deal with that Klaus. Either she attacked him or… well no, she would at least slap him if he even tried to accuse her of lying on more time. He had been the one that started it and she had managed to put it away before but not now, not after he had accused her of lying.

Unfortunately she couldn't just slap him and get away with it, Stefan and Damon were under his contract and if he wanted her gone he probably could get them to fire her… Not that Damon would mind, he would probably give her a medal if she had hit Klaus.

Klaus could get her fired, but what had Kol said before he was stopped? _"__Maybe you should look into why you got your job." _Why did her job have anything to with Klaus? She got that job on her own terms, she had applied for the position and Stefan had called her. But didn't she find it odd how easy she got that job? He had practically offered it to her before he had even spoken to her, it seemed like a big risk for anyone and she had asked about it. He had said she had a great reference… That was Carol right? She had been stopping her smear-campaign against her and had finally given her the credit she deserved… Right?

Caroline wasn't sure anymore but she knew there would be one person who would know the answers, even if he wouldn't tell her everything, the least he could do was explain about the reference right? She hoped so, she was beginning to see Stefan as a friend and she thought that he liked her as well so the least he could do was to be honest… She just hoped that she was wrong, that Carol had truly changed her ways and that she was the good reference, because the alternative wasn't one that she was willing to consider.

* * *

Caroline had left, she had left him… He shook his head in denial, no, she hadn't left him. She couldn't, she wasn't his and she never would be. If there was one thing that he was certain of, it was that Caroline Forbes would never allow someone to own her; she was strong and stubborn… and had known about the bet all along. Klaus sighed in realization, sure maybe not in the beginning, not when she had reacted willingly and had left him there on her own accord as well, but after she had known.

And when she did find out she hadn't demanded answers or an explanation, nothing of that sort; instead she had turned the tables on him and had conspired with his brother. If any other person would have attempted such a plan he would have been furious, and he did feel betrayed but he couldn't deny that he didn't feel a lot of respect for the woman as well. She hadn't allowed herself to be treated like that and took back the control. She had walked away from him because she could, and why wouldn't she? Sure they had been going along for the past hours but they were just working together.

Still she had managed to get him to talk about things, about his job, about his thoughts, how had she gotten him to open up? She hadn't tried anything on him, at least he thought she hadn't, but there was something about her that made him want to be honest… But he hadn't been, not always and now she knew Kol had made sure of that.

Klaus didn't understand why Kol would go to such measures, why would he tell Caroline about their bet or work with her to… to what? Make him believe that she had sex with his brother? What did they have to gain from that? He didn't understand, and sure Kol would love to partake in any scheme so that wasn't that surprising but why tell him now? Why would he inform him and Caroline of each other's plans, their lies? It didn't make any sense to him and he wanted to ask but he knew that if he would see Kol again he was more than likely to hit his brother. Kol had ruined any kind of progress he had made with Caroline, but still… she had called him a decent human being. Or well apparently she had seen those parts in him. Was that all ruined because of his brother or was there still hope?

Why was he even interested in that, she was supposed to be a freaking conquest; he wasn't supposed to care, those things never ended well. No he should stay away from her, she wouldn't want anything to do with him after this, the least he could do is honor that wish. He would stay away from her.

He looked down at his sketch, he still had a lot to finish, sure he and Caroline had gotten far but the drawing wasn't done and it still needed to be colored. He observed it for a moment, he knew that without Caroline's help it wouldn't become as good as he had wanted to, but it should turn out decent, far better than the original idea and without her he just had to work harder. She was right, it had to be lighter and he would just need to work on that on his own for now, he knew just what he needed.

* * *

The sound of knocking disturbed Stefan of his work and he looked up to see who was trying to catch his attention. He knew it couldn't be Damon, his brother had never warned someone about his presence in his life, Klaus usually didn't knock either, he just started talking and seemed to assume that he would drop everything to listen to him. He looked up and was surprised to see Caroline standing there, wasn't she supposed to be helping Klaus out today?

He hadn't supported the idea, not entirely but he knew that Caroline could take care of herself and unfortunately with Klaus position there wasn't a lot he could do in regard of protesting. When they had agreed to the contract he hadn't expected Klaus to make any demands, at least not in regard of their hiring process or what she should be working on. But no, Klaus had wanted Caroline to work close by for a reason and she had rejected him for one as well…

He liked the blonde, she had spirit and never seemed to be in a mood, she brought some happiness in the place and he knew that even with her troubles with Klaus she still agreed to help him out. Caroline Forbes seemed to be a genuine nice person and he didn't see a lot of those around, which is why it surprised him that she was back already.

From what he had gathered Klaus problem would take a while and he expected the man not to let her leave that soon, still she was here, still in the door opening looking at him suspiciously and he should have probably invited her in by now. He snapped out of his thoughts and scratched the back of his head, "Caroline, please come in. Where can I help you with?" he asked and he noticed how Caroline looked worried. Something was bothering the girl and he truly hoped that it had nothing to do with Klaus. Because after the men's request, demand more like it, one thing became clear to Stefan, Klaus was there boss and even though they were amicable, the man wasn't afraid to play that card to get what he wanted.

Even if Klaus had done anything to Caroline, could he truly help her? He felt like he was stuck between two people he regarded as friends, unfortunately those two friends also happened to be his employer and his employee. Klaus and Caroline shouldn't be his concern but he was stuck in the middle and it annoyed him greatly, it felt like he was back in High School, friends asking him to approach his crush because they couldn't themselves. Being the middle man didn't suit with him and even though he wasn't sure if what Klaus felt for Caroline was a crush, there was definitely something behind his obvious interest in the woman. He desired her but he wasn't sure what Caroline felt for the man besides annoyance.

She looked at Stefan who seemed lost in thoughts, something seemed to plague him and she was pretty sure he hadn't heard any of the things she had just told him. Sure she had just informed him about the lunch she had set with Mr. Green for Friday but she could have just emailed that to him as well. She had needed an excuse to be in his office and he wasn't even paying attention.

She snapped her fingers in front of his face and he looked up a bit confused, "Oh sorry, I was-"

"Lost in thoughts?" she finished for him and he nodded sheepishly. She wondered what it was that had taken control of his mind but she wasn't in a position to ask, not like that ever stopped her. "Anything I can help you with?"

He smiled at her, she probably could help him, explain some things but they were none of his business, he did have something in mind that could help his previous concern. He was worried about Klaus' intentions with Caroline but he could always create some distance between them.

"Nothing serious, just a project that's keeping me awake," the lie left his lips without any effort but she seemed to buy it. "Now I believe I was supposed to be the one that would be helping you."

She sighed and fidgeted a bit, unsure how to ask what she wanted to ask. He took in the way she had clenched her hand in a fist, her thumb pressing on every finger one by one, repeating the motion and he wondered if she even realized she was doing it. It seemed like something you would do when you were nervous but what reason did Caroline have to be nervous? She took a deep breath and rushed out the question, pausing halfway not sure where to continue, "When you called me for the interview you told me you choose me because of my reference…"

That wasn't a question and he was worried about where this was going. Caroline seemed to know something her reference, more than she should know but Klaus hadn't told her, if he had, she would have the answer and wouldn't have come to him. What had made her suspect anything about the nature of her reference and even more importantly, what should he tell her? "I did say that," he said carefully.

"And that was the truth right?" she asked and winced at the way the question had come of, she hadn't intended to accuse him of lying, but it had sounded like she had.

Stefan nodded slowly and decided to reveal some truth in his answer, "Of course it was, you had a great reference that I really couldn't ignore," even if he had tried.

She hated the fact that she doubted his words, he seemed honest but she needed confirmation, needed to know that he was telling the truth. "You don't happen to have that reference lying around somewhere?" she asked and was disappointed when he shook his head.

"Sorry we don't keep those around," he told her, he had never gotten around to even request hers before Klaus had visited but after he had met her he doubted it would be anything but great. So why was that reference so important to her?

"Okay," she swallowed deep before she took another approach, "But you must know who you have spoken to about me? I mean you barely ever forget a name, so surely you remember who would have told you so many great things about me."

Stefan tried to dig into his mind for the name but he hadn't really bothered to read through her references after Klaus' request. It hadn't seemed necessary, something he regretted deeply right now. He shook his head, "I can't remember," he admitted to her.

Caroline smiled triumphantly; at least Stefan had been honest with her on that account. Still he could have been in contact with her by email as well, Elijah had informed her that he had gotten the reference by mail, maybe so did Stefan. But then why didn't he have it around anymore? No, it started to sound more and more like Stefan had never requested a reference for her and that should have creeped her out, but with Klaus having him under contract, she doubted it was his idea. "Well if you can't remember that, could you at least clarify whether it was a man or a woman that has spoken so highly of me?"

Stefan winced, she really did know and she deserved to know the truth. This was something he was concerned about and he wasn't going to lie to her for Klaus. Not more than he had already unintentionally done. "It was a man," he confessed and he tried to read her expression.

There was hurt visibly in her face but why would that be present? Was she hurt because Klaus had wanted her to have the job, or was there something else?

She knew there was one more question that she had to ask, sure she knew the answer already but she needed him to say it, to make it impossible for her to have any doubts left. "Did Klaus tell you to hire me?"

"Yes he did," Stefan told her and waited for her reaction. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting, for her to run out of his office, for her to demand answers or even to turn in her resignation, he hadn't expected her current reaction.

She leaned back in her chair, a worried expression on her face but also some relieve, maybe because now she knew the answers, but she knew that wasn't it. This hadn't bothered her for that long, sure she was relieved Stefan confided the truth in her but there was something else there as well. Something she didn't want to focus on, the worry overtook her, Carol hadn't changed her mind and she needed to know what that was about. But her window to get answers was so small, she hadn't been worried at first, but now she was in New York, she enjoyed herself and she had left Mystic Falls behind, she didn't want to invite it back in her life. But she didn't want to be left with these kinds of questions either. Calling Carol had no use, she was a great liar, she was a mayor so she had to be, but Caroline had worked with her for almost five year. She knew most of Carol's tells, she would know if she saw her. Besides if she was in Mystic Falls she could demand some answers from Tyler as well.

She was told too many lies this year and she wanted to know them, but could she do it? Go to Mystic Falls? She knew Vaugn would get out early on "good behavior", just another month if she was correct, maybe a bit more. But after the letters he had send during his time there she wasn't taking any chances. She hadn't planned on leaving before even if he would be released, she was to high-profile for him to try anything again. She was dating the son of the mayor and was around the woman herself almost every hour of the day, there wasn't a safer place in the town and she had refused to be scared. But now here in New York it was much better for her, she didn't want to jeopardize that but if she was going… It would have to be fast, even if he would leave her alone there was no way she wanted to risk running into him ever again.

"I need to take some leave, there are some businesses that I will have to take care of," she told Stefan and he looked up in surprise.

"Like what?" he questioned and he wondered if that would be how it would end, Caroline would take her leave first and then leave the company, feeling betrayed, "Look Care, Klaus might have told us that you were perfect for the job, that we should hire you, but he did allow us to refuse if we thought you were unsuited. We hired you because he was right, you were perfect for the job, don't leave because of this."

Caroline shook her head, why would Stefan think she would leave? "No it's not that, there is something in my hometown I need to take care of." Stefan raised an eyebrow not believing his friends excuse, "No really, because you just confirmed something, Carol never gave me a good reference." He looked confused at that, who was Carol and why would it matter that it hadn't been her reference that got her hired. "Carol was the mayor of the town, I used to work for her and apparently she has been giving me undeserved bad references. Elijah told me, and after you told me I got a great one… I assumed she had changed her tactic. Clearly she hadn't, I need answers why she did this."

Stefan nodded unsure what exactly was going on but he believed Caroline, if she said the bad reference was undeserved it was. "Okay, he looked through his calendar, when do you want to leave?"

Caroline was grateful that he wasn't making a big deal about it, "As soon as possible."

He still needed her this week, Damon and he would be leaving the office for a few days and he needed her around. "Next week? You can leave this weekend and would a week suffice?"

Caroline nodded, "Yes that would be plenty of time, thank you!" She was glad Stefan understood, and part of her was glad that she would have a few days before she would leave; she needed to make preparations especially if she was going alone. There wasn't a chance that Kat would come with her and she couldn't blame her friend, but she wished she didn't need to go alone either.

* * *

Audrey entered Klaus' office and ignored his glare, "Why hadn't you told me that it was Kol that wanted to do lunch?" he slurred and she looked around the office noticing a half empty bottle of scotch next to him.

She shrugged, "You can't avoid your family forever and it had been two weeks already, sometimes confrontation work the best," she knew out of her own experience. When she had gotten Kyle her whole family had "helpful advice" for her, she was "too young" and they all tried to intrude and act helpful while they had judged her behind her back. She had heard their talks about how she was unfit to raise a kid but she had proved them wrong. Still, sometimes she wished she would have taken the high road instead of separating herself from her family. She had recognized it which Klaus, he was trying to keep his brother away but she had seen that they were close before, they could fix it and she had only wanted to help.

"That wasn't your call to make!" he shouted at her and she only rolled her eyes at him. She had needed to inform him of a few matters but it was no use to do so in this state. She hadn't seen him drink before, wasn't even aware that there was any alcohol in the office but she shouldn't be surprised. She knew about his reputation.

"Should you really be drinking? Don't you have a deadline to maintain?" she asked instead.

"Haven't you heard sweetheart," he spat out, annoyed by her presence, "Alcohol fuses our creative streak," he told her with a smirk while he added a shade of red to the background.

"Sure it does," Audrey said unconvinced, "How did you even get that in here?" she pointed at the bottle of expensive looking scotch and looked around for a place where he could have hid it.

"I didn't," he said and noticed Audrey's confused facial expression, "It was Mikael's, he had a secret compartment with several great bottles of scotch, it was still stocked."

Audrey looked around curiously, "Where is it?" she wondered and he chuckled at that. "Now why should I tell you?" he bit out and dismissed her. She left his office, she should tell him tomorrow, she knew he would be angry that he hadn't known earlier but she couldn't tell him when he was in this state. Besides, odds where that he wouldn't even remember by tonight, hopefully Kirstin wouldn't decide to contact him on his own. They had enough to deal with without that.

* * *

**So two storylines will be picking up soon, one for Caroline with her finally heading back to Mystic Falls and one for Klaus where we finally find out about something but don't worry, they will still interact between those things. There will be some things they need to discuss...**

**And talking about things to discuss! I need your opinion because I have two scenario's in my head and I might need help. What will Caroline's reaction to Klaus be know that she knows that he got her this job. Please leave me a review with your thought or a PM or vote in the poll that I will make for this!**

**Unfortunately I'm also very busy this week and have absolutely no time to write, I really wish that I could give you guys a quick update again but it will have to wait until Saturday. I'm in the middle of some exams and work a lot this week as well so free time is rare. I'll try to post a sneak peek on my tumblr between the wait! My tumblr is doctorwhooed and I tag it Work for it fic. Just give me a couple of days ;-)**


	19. Chapter 19

**I'm sorry for the day delay. I mean this wait was already supposed to be the longest one until now but I hadn't exxpected to get this busy. I'm in the middle of midterms and everyday I had either a test or work and this will continue for another two weeks. I'll continue to try and update but it will be a bit slower.**

**As for this chapter, it's smaller than usual and I'm sorry if there's mistakes left. I had a night out with friends and this is written after two hours of sleep and I don't know how many drinks... But I really wanted this chapter out and I chose this over studying :) Well I did finish my Project report before this but that's due tomorrow so priorities xD Sorry I'm not making a lot of sense right now, I'm tired and hungry and I'm just going to let you read before you judge me :)**

* * *

**Chapter 19**

Elijah had left an hour ago, an hour in which Katherine had been alone and tried to wrap her mind about what had just happened. She had told Elijah, had told him everything and he had stayed by her. In that afternoon she had cried more than she ever had in past five years but it had felt freeing as well. He accepted her and understood that this was part of her past, she had lost that fear, the fear of losing him about this and she was glad she had listened.

She still felt awful but knew that she would eventually heal, when she heard the sound of the door she turned toward it and watched Caroline walk through the door in a hurry, "Kat we need to- Kat?" whatever Caroline had wanted to say was lost when she noticed Katherine's state. The dried eyeliner and mascara stains on her cheek and the redness of her eyes were still evident and Caroline was quick to drop her stuff and rush over.

"What happened?" she exclaimed while she wrapped her arms around Katherine, "Are you okay?"

Katherine chuckled and replayed the question in her mind, was she? "Yeah, I think I am. It was just… an emotional day."

"Tell me about it," Caroline muttered and received a raised eyebrow from her, "Sorry, weird things happened today."

"It seems like one of these days," Katherine said, "So what happened on your end?"

Caroline wanted to explain what had happened but it didn't seem that important right then. The last time she had seen Katherine really cry was over four years ago, the evidence was still there that she had cried know and she knew exactly what would make that happen. "You told Elijah," she deduced and Kat nodded. "How did he react?" she asked carefully. She had been confident that Elijah would react like the gentleman he was but you could never be certain, she hoped he hadn't prove her wrong.

"He reacted…" she thought back to Elijah, "Perfect, he reacted perfect." She noticed Caroline's expression, waiting for an explanation, "He just… he let me tell everything, never rushing me and not once did he judge me or look down on me. Not even when I told him about… well you know."

Caroline nodded, she did know. She knew exactly who Katherine was talking about and even after all this years she still hated the man. She couldn't believe how he had been able to just continue his life, be with his wife and never think about what had happened again while Katherine has been shunned by the community of Mystic Falls, been a topic of conversation and has quite literally been run out of the city. He could have been arrested for his relationship with Katherine, she had been sixteen when it started and the age of consent in Virginia was eighteen.

He got away so easily and there were times where she had wanted to tell her mother, to have her arrest the man who had broken her friend and it wasn't even the relationship that she had problems with, it was how he had treated Katherine. How he had disregarded her the second he she told him about the pregnancy. No one deserved that, least of all Kat.

Luckily they ran in total different circles so she barely ever saw him in the little small town and she hoped that it would stay that way when she went back to Mystic Falls.

"So what has been bothering you?" Katherine asked her, trying to put the attention of her own day.

"Klaus," Caroline sighed out; his name was the only way to explain her day. It had been confusing, not all bad, not all good but with an irritating ending. She didn't know why she let the man get under her skin this easily, she always put up her guards and they were sky high with Klaus, something about the man screamed dangerous to her but then there were moments where they crushed down and she saw more of the man…

"What did he do?" Katherine pried curious about hearing more about Elijah's brother. She had heard some tales about their family but Elijah had always been a bit vague about Klaus background. It wasn't that he didn't talk about Klaus, the opposite actually, he talked lots about his brother but she had noticed that in comparison with the other siblings the stories about Klaus always went about something he or they did. About stunts or stories from the past with all of them included but nothing about him personally.

It wasn't that she was expecting Elijah to tell her his life story, she didn't need to know nor did Elijah needed to tell but it was noticeable, especially since she had heard all about Rebekah's past "failures of romantic entanglements" as he had called it. It made her curious, especially since he showed an interest in her best friend.

Caroline sighed and tried to think of a way to explain to Katherine what had happened without bursting into an hour long explanation. She didn't need to know everything, she could tell her the outlines. "Well first I was requested to help him with an assignment that had its deadline today…" she hoped that he had managed to finish it on his own though. The artwork was turning out quite beautifully and she hadn't expected him to have such talents hidden. If anything she had expected him to brag about it but he had proved her wrong. There was still darkness there though; it showed in his portrayal of the emotions, in his color scheme. She shook her head in annoyance, it didn't matter and she was letting it go, besides by now he would have handed the concept over anyway.

"He asked you to help him? Didn't he hire someone to do that for him?" Katherine asked confused.

"That's what I said, apparently Audrey was busy running errands and I was familiar with the concept. He thought I could help and it was quite urgent so I decided to help," she paused and thought about what would have happened if she had refused. She would have still avoided him and wouldn't have known about Klaus "help" in her job. Would that have been a good thing? She would still be unaware of Carol's betrayal, she wasn't sure if she had wanted to uncover that but it was better that she had. Now she could work on it, find out why this stunt had been pulled and she could stop it.

"Why would you be familiar with the concept?" Caroline hadn't done anything for Klaus before and since she had only worked inside the company for a mere two weeks there was no way that she could have picked up on things that older employers hadn't. Katherine wondered what that was about and if there was more to it.

Caroline's flustered look told her all she needed to know, "Well I'd seen it before, we had spoken about the ads during our, uhm, well during the interview and I had told him some of my ideas. He seemed to agree and-"

Katherine interrupted her, "Was this before or after you had your hand in his pants?" she said crudely and Caroline pierced her eyes at her.

"You know I left before he could- before either of us had any form of release so I doubt he would agree with me just because I left him hanging," Katherine raised her eyebrow skeptically, "And to answer that question yes it was before."

"So he wanted you to work with him to get you into bed again and that's why you annoyed?" Katherine guessed and her eyes widened, "Or even better, you did sleep with him and that's why you're annoyed because now you're confused about what it all meant!"

"No!" Caroline exclaimed, "I didn't sleep with him. He didn't try to get into my pants, we just worked together and it went…" she searched for a word to describe her time with Klaus before Kol had showed up, "Well, it went well,"

"So you are confused about what it all meant," Katherine guessed again, noticing how Caroline had never denied that part.

"I don't know, I don't think so, maybe?" she said unsure, she hadn't expected to see that side of him, to see any side of him besides the asshole that she had painted of him in her head. There was the bet that certainly made him lose points, he was cocky, he treated people without respect, he was relentless, annoying at times but at the same time that wasn't all he had showed her, she had just dismissed those parts. What if that time they had simply talked, before she returned his kiss, what if that hadn't been a simple plot, what if he had truly wanted her opinion. After all he had remembered and had even requested her assistance with it for today. He hadn't used the opportunity to get closer to her, instead they talked and worked. He had told her something about his past, showed a vulnerability which she knew he didn't show easily.

Could it be that she had judged him wrong? Maybe, but there was still that one thing… "It doesn't matter because Kol interrupted dropping some bombs."

"Uh-oh, what did the little devil did this time?" she had heard some of his schemes and she knew that whatever he would have to tell it should be good.

"He told Klaus that I knew about the bet and that the texts he got about Kol and I had been send deliberately and were untrue," she had informed Katherine about the bet and she had been appalled mostly but didn't judge them about it. She just hated that Caroline was dragged into it.

"So Kol told on you. Why? It had been his idea."

"I have no idea, he did say something else interesting though. He hinted at how I got my job."

"How you got you… what could Kol know about how you got your job and is there something you should have told me about that or…?"

Caroline laughed, "No there's nothing to tell, but it got me curious. Klaus threw him out right after, we argued, I left and informed by Stefan. Three guesses who my actually reference was."

"Don't tell me that he-"

"Yes, he put in the contract that they had to hire me. Which means that Carol never retracted her bad reference and that I'm still screwed."

Katherine tried to wrap her head about what Caroline had just told her, Klaus got her best friend the job but why? Just so he could get close to her, it seemed like a awful lot of trouble for someone you wanted to fuck once. She decided to focus on the other part though, "Carol still gave you a bad reference? What are you going to do about it?"  
"I'm leaving to Mystic Falls this weekend; I have to figure it out. I would ask if you want to join me but…" But I know you won't.

"No I have nothing to go back to there, but this Caroline! This is… Are you sure you want to return?"

"It doesn't matter, I need answers and if I wait too long…" She hadn't actually informed Katherine about Vaughn's impending release, not wanting to distress her friend, "Let's just say that I'm afraid that the longer I wait, the more excuses I'll come up with. I need to know this, don't I deserve too?"

Katherine narrowed her eyes, she knew her friend well enough to know when she lied and she hadn't done so, but she had omitted something, she could feel it. "So what are you going to do about Klaus?" Katherine asked, suspecting that he was her reason of doubt.

"I don't know. I have to talk with him about this though. He got me a job close by and I doubt that those intentions were honorable. I want to hit him for stooping so low, but at the same time…"

"At the same time you really like the job and fear that you wouldn't have gotten it without his help?" Katherine correctly guessed.

"Yeah, I just… I don't know how I feel about it."

"You don't have to! You don't have to know right away but when you see him, I know you; you will bring this up in a heartbeat and however you feel then, don't attack him. Even when you want to, you won't get answers that way," Katherine told her.

She thought back to how Klaus had opened up to her just by talking and she knew her friend was right. She had tried fighting and arguing with Klaus and it didn't work, there was that saying with bees and honey… she hoped it would work.

* * *

Klaus kept his eyes locked on the beautiful blonde writhing beneath him in pleasure, her stormy blue eyes had captivated him and he didn't want to miss one second of her coming undone around him. He could feel her tightening around his length and he knew that she was close; he wanted the moment to last. He pulled back one and almost slipped out of her, moving slower. She was clawing at his back, trying to keep him close and her legs wrapped around his back in a forceful move.

He could feel her gasp when he slammed back into her. Her mouth opened and curse words left her lips while she was on the brink of her orgasm, he knew what she wanted and he wanted to give it to her. Wanted to see her when she became undone, he made another thrust and reveled in the way she lost herself. She looked absolutely glorious and he heard her moan his name before he continued his thrusts and was seconds away of giving in to his own release.

His eyes opened in confusion, he noticed the blonde still sleeping next to him and for a moment he thought it had been her but the shade of her hair was the wrong blonde, too dark. Caroline had only visited him in his dreams and left him painfully hard, always on the brink of coming, but never actually letting him finish. It was the twisted kind of poetry his brain came up with and he looked at the blonde with regret. He shouldn't have taken her home.

After he had send the ads towards the museum he had went to a pub near his home, he had already been quite drunk before but he could remember enough to know that he had left absolutely wasted with the blonde wrapped around his arms. What was her name again? Mindy, Shirley, it was something with a y, at least he thought it was…

She had approached him when he had been about to leave and asking him if he wanted her company and he hadn't been able to come up with a reason why not. She was hot, dressed in a red short dress, tightly wrapped around her and showing off all the reasons why he should agree. His thoughts had flickered to Caroline for a moment, about what she would say and he had scoffed at the thought. Why would he care what she thought? She already hated him, had known about the bet and was probably disgusted with him. He had thought the blonde would be a good distraction, make him forget about another blonde but apparently it hadn't worked…

What was it about the girl that had nestled its way into his mind, it didn't want to leave him alone, she didn't want to leave him alone and he wasn't entirely sure he wanted her to leave.

One look at the clock snapped him out of his thoughts, he had about an hour before he had to leave for work and here was no way he was leaving this person alone in his apartment.

He had made it just on time, the cold shower had managed to rid him of his earlier problem and even though the blonde in his bed, Katie as she had reminded him, had offered to assist him he had been quick to turn her down. He had no desire to repeat last night's mistake. Before he had walked into his bathroom he had handed her the clothes and told her that she would better leave before he came back. Which luckily she had, he didn't want the trouble of women that refused to leave, besides he had enough to deal with today.

A hangover was a small part of it, over the years he had became adapt in dealing with hangovers and he was confident that he would manage through the day. But the missed calls from Audrey this early in the morning made him suspicious. She wouldn't call him, not this early unless it was urgent. He walked into the elevator, doors closing before a hand slipped in, stopped the doors from closing and blonde haired woman stepped into the elevator.

She looked like she had a purpose; a bright smile on her face but there was something glistering in her eyes. The small faltered for a second when she set her eyes on him. "Mr. Mikaelson," she nodded at him and he wondered if he should know her. Which department did she work on? He didn't know, but the face looked familiar, he wasn't sure of why though. He nodded back at her and noticed that the button she pressed, the same floor as he had but he didn't ask about it. If she were there for him she could have mentioned it, maybe she had a meeting with Stefan or Damon…

It wasn't any of his business and if it was, he was sure he would be informed.

* * *

**Okay lets see... What to expect in the next chapter:  
****- The identity of the blonde in the elevator,  
- Troubles for Klaus  
- Rebekah will be back**

**So I tried to move a bit forward with what both of them feel for each other, Caroline's turmoil over Klaus and Klaus his unconciousness.**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter, please tell me your thoughts and another update should be ready on... Well let's make it Saturday because I'm not going to be making any sense at Friday since I will have seen a certain episode that day and OMG have you guys seen all the Klaroline spoilers of the last couple of days? Please tell me your thoughts and/or theories I love to hear what you guys think will happen especially after The Australian three second moment!**


End file.
